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 A monitoring-based system to enhance canegrub control best management practice for Isis sugarcane growers : final report GGP056(BSES, 2013) Stanley, W; Chandler, KThe aim of GGP-056 was for growers to experience the effectiveness and practical value of monitoring canegrub risk as the basis for more cost-effective and efficient canegrub management: - taking the most appropriate option, including the most suitable insecticide treatment if and when and where needed, as opposed to current routines that are in the main effective but not as efficient as possible.Item Methods for accurate identification of canegrubs : SRDC final report BS97S(BSES, 1999) Allsopp, PG; Miller, LJThe objectives of the project were; determine morphological characters for accurate identifica6tion of larvae and adults of all species of canegrubs; validate the usefulness of morphological characters through DNA analysis; produce written and computer-based keys to enable extension staff and growers to accurately identify larvae and adults of canegrubs.Item A metarhizium-based product for control of cane pests : SRDC final report BSS134(BSES, 2000) Samson, PR; Robertson, LN; Milner, RJ; Bullard, GKThe fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is a naturally occurring pathogen of soil insects in Australia. Metarhizium can be used as a bioinsecticide for control of canegrubs by mass-producing spores on rice and applying the resulting product into canefields. Numbers of greyback canegrub in plant cane have been consistently reduced by more than 50% when spores of isolate FI-1045 together with the rice medium have been applied at 33 kg/ha. About 18 t of this product were applied in semi-commercial trials in 1997-1999. The product was registered as BioCane™ Granules in March 2000. FI-1045 has also given some control of southern one-year canegrub. Another isolate, FI-147, significantly reduced numbers of negatoria canegrub the year after application into sugarcane ratoons, and increased cane yield. The same isolate was equally effective against French's canegrub in laboratory bioassays, and field trials are in progress against this pest. Trials have been less successful against Childers canegrub, and more effective isolates must be identified for this species. Trial results have been very poor against soldier fly; none of the isolates tested in bioassays was very virulent, and no further work is planned.Item GrubPlan 2; developing improved risk-assessment and decision-support systems for managing greyback canegrub : SRDC final report BSS257(BSES, 2008) Samson, PRThe 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.Item Optimum canegrub management within new sustainable cropping systems : SRDC final report BSS266(BSES, 2010) Samson, K; Chandler, K; Sallam, NThis project addressed the issue of canegrub management in new farming systems. Many cane growers are adopting or planning to adopt one or more components of 'new farming systems' - legume rotations, reduced tillage and controlled traffic - to improve the profitability and sustainability of their farms. Canegrubs can be a constraint on cane productivity in conventional systems if not managed appropriately. Changes to farming systems could have positive or negative impacts on canegrub populations and the damage they cause, and may require changes to management tactics.Item Feasibility of acoustic detection of canegrubs for better management decisions : SRDC final report BSS300(BSES, 2007) Samson, PR; Chandler, KJ; Mankin, RMonitoring of pest populations is a key to effective management of insects in many crops, allowing pest-control treatments to be applied when needed, and only when needed. Monitoring should be relied on more for management of canegrubs in sugarcane, but its widespread adoption is held back by the laborious task of digging up cane stools to assess grub populations. This project aimed to assess the feasibility of detecting grub populations by the sounds that they make below-ground. A researcher experienced in acoustic detection of hidden insects, Dr Richard Mankin from the United States Department of Agriculture in Florida, worked with BSES entomologists near Mackay and Bundaberg for 2 weeks in April-May 2007, using equipment that he brought with him. The investigations demonstrated that canegrubs can be detected readily in Queensland sugarcane fields during a time when worthwhile decisions could be made about future grub management. However, more work is needed to develop a system that could be deployed as a practical monitoring tool.Item Effect of farming practices on canegrub incidence : SRDC final report project BSS166(BSES, 2002) Allsopp, PG; Sallam, MN; Dall, DJThe impact of farming practices on numbers of Childers canegrubs was determined in southern Queensland by a survey of 441 field-year combinations that related practices to the numbers of second- and third-instar larvae in those fields, and by a field experiment that tested combinations of insecticide application, cultivation practices and crop-residue retention on numbers of larvae and associated entomopathogens. There were significant differences in levels of infestation among years, soil types, crop ages, cultivars grown, insecticide-use strategies, crop-replacement strategies, intensity and frequency of tillage during crop replacement, and irrigation strategies. In the field trial, numbers of third-instar larvae declined as the larvae aged, probably through infection by the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae and the protozoan Adelina sp. Application at planting of the controlled-release insecticide suSCon? Blue had an immediate effect on the number of larvae carried over from the previous crop cycle and this effect continued into the second-ratoon crop. The insecticide application increased cane and sugar yields, particularly in the first-ratoon crop. More intensive preplanting tillage initially reduced numbers of larvae, but the effect did not continue into the ratoon crops. Management of crop residues had no consistent impact on numbers of larvae, but cane yields were higher and sugar content lower in the second-ratoon crop when residues were retained, and led to higher sugar yields where suSCon? Blue had been applied. In general, long breaks between successive sugarcane crops, coupled with intensive tillage in that break and application of controlled-release insecticide, will reduce subsequent populations of larvae. The alternative strategy of herbicide destruction of the previous crop, long fallow with minimum tillage, replanting without controlled-release insecticide and prudent use of transient insecticides in heavily infested ratoon crops will also minimise numbers and may allow better survival of entomopathogens. These strategies are integrated into management practices attractive to growers and have been extended within the Southern GrubPlan format.Item Expanded registration for Metarhizium strains against canegrubs : SRDC final project report BSS246(BSES, 2002) Samson, P; Milner, J; Bullard, GEight 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.Item Farming systems that optimise the control of greyback canegrubs by BioCane� : SRDC final report BSS226(BSES, 2002) Samson, P; Logan, D; Milner, J; Kettle, CThe carry-over of BioCane from one crop to the next is likely to be affected by soil cultivation during seedbed preparation. Metarhizium spores were concentrated in the rows in ratoon crops, either as spores surviving from the original BioCane application or as new spores produced by cadavers that are likely to be aggregated beneath stools. Soil disturbance was analysed using plastic beads as a marker. There was surprisingly little lateral displacement of the beads after cultivation. However, the rows themselves are likely to be displaced when crops are replanted unless minimum tillage planting into the old rows is practiced. In one field site prepared conventionally, spore concentrations were much lower in the new crop than they had been in the old crop.There was no effect of a trash blanket on grub response to BioCane in bins. Death of grubs following contact with BioCane may be slower at lower temperatures (<24?C), but the apparent difference was small. Spore concentrations in soil were not significantly affected by trash blanketing in most experiments. Overall, we were unable to conclude that trash blanketing will influence the efficacy of BioCane in commercial fields.There was no deleterious effect of the insecticides suSCon Plus, Confidor CR (controlled release) or Confidor SC (liquid), or of the fertilisers sulphur, gran-am or urea, on the survival of spores on BioCane granules in PVC rings. This is in agreement with field observations, where there have been no complaints from farmers who have applied BioCane close to some of these other products in commercial practice. However, abnormally low concentrations of spores in the rings indicate technical problems with the product that reduce confidence in the results.