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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1991 - 199962000 - 20089

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End date: 2009Subject: search.filters.subject.Pest management

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    Management strategies for rhyparida in southern Queensland : SRDC final report BSS236
    (BSES, 2002) Fischer, TWA; Allsopp, PG
    Larvae of rhyparida beetles bore into the bases of newly ratooning shoots, causing dead hearts. Very minor damage will kill 'surplus' shoots. More intense damage appears to set plant growth back and cause some yield loss. Prolonged attack will kill all shoots and kill the stool, leaving large gaps and necessitating replanting. No insecticide is registered for control of the pest and the efficacy of cultural controls is unknown.The project developed a better understanding of the phenology of Rhyparida nitida ? this species has a one-year life cycle with extended oviposition over summer, slow development of small larvae during autumn and winter, and more rapid development of larger larvae during spring. The extended oviposition means that each generation has individuals of widely varying ages.Extension of outcomes to stakeholders took place through grower discussion groups, on-farm participatory trials, and newsletters.
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    Summary of effectiveness of Lambda-cyhalothrin for control of sugarcane stemborers; preparedness for borer incursion
    (BSES, 2002) Sallam, MN
    Following a search of the literature, lambda-cyhalothrin (Karate 2.5EC) was identified as a potential candidate insecticide for emergency use in Australia following an incursion of a stemborer.Lambda-cyhalothrin is a stomach and contact pyrethroid used to control a wide range of pests. The insecticide (as Karate?) is registered against Sesamia grisescens in Papua New Guinea and Eldana saccharina in South Africa. It is also used against Busseola fusca in Ethiopia, Chilo partellus in Pakistan, and Ostrinia nubilalis in Poland.Lambda-cyhalothrin is an essential management component that fits well within an overall Integrated Pest Management program for stemborer pests. Data on its chemical structure and physiochemical properties are presented in this report.
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    Rhopaea Canegrub - Assessment of Pest Status and an RD&E program for improved Management in the Tweed Valley
    (BSES, 1996) Allsopp, PG
    I 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 are
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    Control of soldier fly with controlled-release insecticides : final report CO95011
    (BSES, 1995) Samson, PR; Harris, WJ
    The 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.
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    GrubPlan 2; developing improved risk-assessment and decision-support systems for managing greyback canegrub : SRDC final report BSS257
    (BSES, 2008) Samson, PR
    The vision of the project was to provide industry with refined greyback canegrub management systems complete with risk-assessment and decision-support models that could ultimately be deployed at a commercial consultancy level. The outputs of the project would allow proactive management of greyback canegrub by growers and their advisors.The specific objectives were to:1.Continue to develop and refine pest management packages for greyback canegrubs, incorporating regional forecasting, farm monitoring, on-farm risk assessment, decision aids and economic analysis, with groups of growers or individuals.2.Design and implement regional systems to monitor trends in greyback damage and management.3.Develop and validate models that predict the probability of greyback infestations from one year to the next.4.Determine the market acceptance and value of a greyback canegrub risk assessment and management program.
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    Overseas sugarcane quarantine and emergency response planning : SRDC final report BSS280
    (BSES, 2005) Sallam, MN
    The aim of this trip was for Dr Mohamed Sallam, BSES entomologist, to gain experience in sugarcane biosecurity and to learn about sugarcane pest and disease problems in the United States. In addition Dr Sallam participated in the International Conference on Lepidopterous Cereal Stem and Cob Borers in Africa, Kenya. Dr Sallam promoted Australian sugarcane research work and highlighted the role of BSES/SRDC biosecurity initiatives. Scientists from all parts of the world commended the Australian approach in dealing with exotic threats, and future opportunities for further cooperation with LSU, ICIPE and the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) have been created.
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    Implementation of management strategies for control of sugarcane weevil borer in far north Queensland : SRDC final report BSS224
    (BSES, 2002) Telford, D; McAvoy, K
    Sugarcane weevil borers are an introduced pest of sugarcane from New Guinea. They cause significant losses to ccs and may contribute to production of poor quality sugar crystals. The adoption of pre-harvest burning of cane in the 1940s saw a reduction of borer damage to low levels. This remained until the widespread adoption of green cane harvesting and trash blanketing in the 1980s.Early studies have shown ways to reduce borer damage through the use of resistant varieties, improved farm hygiene (reduced cane loss and improved rat control), and chemical control. A reduction in borer damage will enhance viability of the northern sugar industry.This project was designed to have a participatory approach with stakeholders affected by borers in the Queensland sugar industry and to demonstrate the effectiveness of implementing borer management strategies.
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    Expanded registration for Metarhizium strains against canegrubs : SRDC final project report BSS246
    (BSES, 2002) Samson, P; Milner, J; Bullard, G
    Eight fungicides and three liquid insecticides are registered in Queensland for application to sugarcane at planting, and these may come into contact with Metarhizium during application from cane planters. Seven of the chemicals were tested for deleterious effects on two Metarhizium isolates, FI-147 and FI-1045 (BioCane?), in laboratory and field experiments.In growth studies on medium, the fungicides Cane Strike? and Sportak? were about 10 times more toxic than Shirtan? and Tilt?, while toxicity of the latter fungicides was about 100 times that of the three insecticides Lorsban?, Talstar? and Regent? (based on active ingredient). When the amount of active ingredient in each product and field application rates are considered, the expected order of harmfulness in commercial use would be Regent < Talstar < Lorsban < Cane Strike < Tilt < Shirtan < Sportak.In a field experiment where Metarhizium granules were sprayed with each chemical (except Regent) at very high rates and then covered with soil, only Shirtan showed any toxic effect on spore viability, with a reduction from 82% to 69%. No harmful effect of any chemical was detected in counts of colony-forming units in soil samples or in bioassays of treated soil using negatoria and greyback canegrubs. No reduction was found in viability of FI-1045 on nine farms, where BioCane granules were applied though commercial planters with fungicide, compared with granules buried in untreated soil. Thus, we believe that BioCane is compatible with these chemicals in practice, and a label change for BioCane to include application at planting has been drafted with Bio-Care Technology Pty Ltd.
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    Strategies to control greyback canegrub in early harvested ratoon crops : SRDC final report IPB001
    (BSES, 2002) Chandler, KJ
    Greyback canegrubs consistently cause losses of $5-10 million per year to sugarcane producers, with periodic disastrous outbreaks where losses are about $20-40 million. This indicates that the current strategy is inadequate to manage this pest in the modern production environment. This project targets one important constraint to developing a better management package - the inability to treat ratoon crops, the crop category contributing most to outbreaks. The specific aim was to largely overcome this constraint through, simultaneously, demonstrating to and encouraging growers to adopt more advanced and efficient control systems, whilst exploring the potential of a new insecticide within the system framework. This project saw a joint involvement between SRDC, BSES, the industry-funded Inkerman Cane Protection and Productivity Board (CPPB), and Bayer CropScience, to facilitate more rapid and relevant registration of a compound for use in sugarcane production.Long-term BSES and SRDC program goals are to develop combinations of new and existing cultural, biological and chemical tactics into newer, flexible, integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to modulate the severity and frequency of losses and to provide more affordable and sustainable controls. In evaluating a new insecticide for use in ratoon crops, grower participants and supporting staff were introduced to the concept of developing more modern IPM practice for managing greyback canegrub. The new system may also be applicable to other control agents. The aim is for integrated strategy with flexibility - new risk-assessment-based systems for selecting fields suitable for this treatment, or for alternative tactics, and ?trap-cropping? concepts for attaining maximum benefit from a specific treatment through cross-protection of neighbouring fields.
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    Determining the biology of rhopaea canegrub in the New South Wales sugar industry : SRDC final report BSS201
    (BSES, 2002) McLennan, AJ; McGuire, PJ; Allsopp, PG; Zalucki, MP
    Rhopaea canegrub (Rhopaea magnicornis Blackburn) is the major insect pest of the New South Wales sugar industry with about 25% of Condong farms affected. Rhopaea has also been reported as a pest in the Broadwater and Nambour canegrowing areas. At the time this project commenced little was known about the ecology and population dynamics of the pest and no commercially viable control measures existed.Contrary to previous beliefs, some female beetles were observed to fly prior to mating. However, female beetles were also observed that emerged and did not fly, but mated on the soil surface before burrowing back into the soil where they laid their eggs. It is not yet known which behaviour is the most common. The average egg batch was found to be 21.3 eggs.The distribution of the life stages of rhopaea canegrubs was determined using both naturally occurring populations at three sites and an introduced population at a fourth site. First and second instars are shallow feeders; they were found at an average depth of about 10 cm. The third-instar rhopaea larvae not only move deeper into the soil (average depth about 15 cm) but also become more focused around the sugarcane stool and row centre. Finally, as pupation approaches, rhopaea grubs again move up in the soil profile, where they were found to pupate at an average depth of only 6.5 cm below the soil surface. Rhopaea is a comparatively shallow-living grub in contrast to some other canegrub species.Green cane trash blanketing was tested on six farms and ?stool rolling? on five farms. Neither practice was shown to be effective but this may be due to the relatively low pest populations that prevailed during the three years of field work.Fallowing as a control measure was tested with both naturally occurring populations and in a replicated trial where plots were seeded with 20 second instar larvae. A grass fallow was found to increase pest numbers in subsequent crops compared to replanting. In the replicated experiment, all fallow treatments reduced grub numbers by similar amounts four months after the larvae were introduced.Field counts made after land preparation for replanting showed that cultivation can reduce pest numbers by close to 100%. However, such large decreases may also disrupt the disease cycle which is essential in suppressing pest numbers.Disease studies showed that rhopaea is infected by a different species of Metarhizium fungus (M. flavoviride) than other canegrub species which are infected by M. anisopliae. The fungus affects all stages (egg-adult) of the pest so that the ?window of control? is very wide. Some field observations showed over 50% of a female?s eggs could be killed by metarhizium infections. Beauveria bassiana was another prominent fungal disease identified in the population. This fungus has only been rarely observed in other more northern canegrub species. Both fungi have potential as biological control agents.Other diseases found include milky disease (Paenibacillus popilliae), three minor fungal diseases and one incidence of a rare microsporidian disease (Nosema sp.).