Pest, disease and weed management
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Research outcomes: A comprehensive RD&E program that addresses existing and emerging pests, diseases and weeds, allowing sugarcane growers to manage their crops efficiently with minimal environmental impacts. An enhanced industry capacity to deal with incursions of exotic pests, diseases and weeds.
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Item Rhopaea Canegrub - Assessment of Pest Status and an RD&E program for improved Management in the Tweed Valley(BSES, 1996) Allsopp, PGI visited the Tweed Valley area to assess the pest status of rhopaea canegrub, diagnose reasons for grower dissatisfaction with present control options, and, with affected growers and technical staff to develop a research, development and extension program aimed at improving management strategies for minimising the impact of these canegrubs.My main findings wereRhopaea canegrub is an economic pest of sugarcane in the Tweed area, mainly on the peat soils, and causes important losses to some of the otherwise most productive growers.The year 1-year life cycle, poor dispersal by adult females, presence of larvae high in the soil profile, and the acidic, organic and friable soils all influence control options and the efficacy of these options.suSCon Blue is giving inadequate control. The insecticide is being placed too deep to contact grubs and the low grub populations in the first two years followling replanting means that the effect of much of the active ingredient is wasted.Knockdown insecticides have a limited potential because of the grub's one year life cycle and because crops are not irrigated.Cultural controls, such as rolling, plough-out and fallowing, and use of tolerant varieties have considerable potential for use as management tools.Green-cane trash-blanketing or trash incorporation may change the farming system in the medium-term future and their effects on rhopaea canegrubs are unkown.There is a core group of growers who are very aware of the problem and who are very enthusiastic about testing alternative and integrated management options.A RD&E plan, which incorporates all of the above options, was developed in conjunction with growers and extension officers. This program should be developed for funding from SRDC and insectide companies and would provide a good project for a postgraduate student. The key components of this program areItem Control of soldier fly with controlled-release insecticides : final report CO95011(BSES, 1995) Samson, PR; Harris, WJThe activity of controlled-release granules against soldier fly larvae was evaluated in laboratory bioassays. Five different active ingredients were tested in a range of granule sizes. The product selected as the most effective varied depending on the time which had elapsed after mixing with the soil. For most compounds, smaller granules were more active in the short term but lost activity more rapidly than the larger granules. Rates of loss of activity during incubation varied between active ingredients. Granules containing carbofuran and carbosulfan showed increased activity during the first year. The most active products in soil after 0, 1 and 2 years were phorate 2 mm granules, carbofuran 1 mm granules, carbofuran 1.5 mm granules and tefluthrin 1 mm granules, respectively.Item A database of pest and disease incidence for the sugar industry : SRDC final report BS126S(BSES, 1999) Stringer, JKThis project established a system to collate, store and interrogate pest and disease data that are collected annually by Queensland Cane Protection and Productivity Boards (CPPBs). An Access database titled ‘Bugbuster’ was developed and this served as the template which was modified to accommodate the needs of individual CPPBs.Item Risk to the Australian Sugar Industry from exotic insect pests : Pest Incursion Management Plan version 1(BSES, 1999) Allsopp, PG; FitzGibbon, F; De Barro, PJIn response to the risk of entry of animal diseases, which could not only affect animal industries but also human health, the AUSTVETPLAN concept was developed and refined over many years. AUSTVETPLAN contains detailed contingency plans for response to incursions of specific serious animal diseases. Detailed agreements on the cost sharing arrangements for eradication programs are included for some of these diseases. Plant industries are faced with a much wider range of species that need protection and exotic pest species that could cause serious economic losses. The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management (SCARM) has developed a general, non-specific, incursion management strategy (SIMS) (Fig. 1). This strategy outlines the broad areas of an incursion management plan and the appropriate authorities involved. The key feature of the strategy is the operation of a national Consultative Committee that is convened under the auspices of Plant Health Committee after an incursion occurs. Recently, the SCARM Task Force on Incursion Management (STF) has developed a generic incursion management plan (GIMP) for the plant industries. This plan outlines the four steps to incursion management: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (Fig. 2). These plans give a good basis for development of specific management plans.Item Maximising the resistance of sugarcane to soldier fly : SRDC final report BS61S(BSES, 1996) Samson, PRInfestations of soldier fly (Inopus spp.) cause losses to sugarcane in areas from Innisfail to New South Wales. Cane losses attributable to soldier fly in Queensland in 1995 were estimated at 24 000 t, and the annual cost of soldier fly infestations to farmers and millers probably exceeds $1M. The number of farms affected by soldier fly at Mackay is increasing, and the pest has recently appeared at Ayr where it has not been recorded previously. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, losses attributable to soldier fly in Queensland were up to 80 000 t of cane per year on a much smaller assigned area. The pest was subsequently controlled by the application of dieldrin, but this chemical is no longer available and alternatives have not been found. With the loss of dieldrin, there is a high potential for a disastrous increase in losses.Item Population dynamics of Inopus rubriceps in sugarcane fields with emphasis on bionomic factors assisting pest management (Final report SRDC Project BS11S)(BSES, 1991) Samson, PRRestrictions were placed on the use of dieldrin in 1987 and its registration for use in the sugar industry lapsed in mid-1991. As no other insecticide is presently available to replace dieldrin, there is an urgent need to develop alternative control strategies. Robertson (1984). PhD thesis. UQ identified organisms predatory and parasitic on the pupal stages of soldier fly as exerting significant population control. A detailed study of the effect of biological control agents and cultural conditions may enable an effective pest management program to be developed for soldier fly.