NWB to tackle sclerotinia and the Australian Ground Spray Calculator
Research out of the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM), in collaboration with AHRI, and co-supported by the GRDC, has indicated that the harvest weed seed control tool (HWSC), narrow windrow burning, also helped to manage the damaging fungal disease sclerotinia stem rot. Kyran Brooks, who is now an agronomist at Landmark in WA, did his Honours in this research, with supervisors Mike Ashworth (AHRI) and Sarita Bennet (CCDM). The trials found providing temperatures were high enough and reasonably consistent (at least 350°C maintained for 10 seconds), sclerotinia was killed. An important finding was that sparse canola stubble that had not been windrowed was difficult to burn and could not achieve the temperatures required to kill sclerotinia.
You can find out more about sclerotinia stem rot by checking out the GRDC fact sheet on it here.
We also speak with research fellow Dr Chris O’Donnell from the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. He explains how the Australian Ground Spray Calculator works. He’ll be going into more detail about this at the ‘Cropping and Resistance Forum’ which will be held on December 6 in Dalby. You can get tickets here.
If you’d like to receive a copy of the calculator before it’s official launch, you can email Chris O’Donnell and request it: c.odonnell@uq.edu.au
The Australian Ground Spray Calculator
The Australian Ground Spray Calculator is nearly ready for release. Below is an example of how it works in practice.
In the picture above, you can see the parameters (nozzle manufacturer, nozzle type, nozzle orifice, pressure, tank mix, etc) are filled in, as an example. The blue box on the right-hand side then becomes populated with details about the spray quality, drift potential and more.
Music: bensound.com