September 8, 2010
Australia's Victoria invests in new plan to tackle grain disease
A new AUD4 million (US$3.6 million) deal to fight grain diseases has been signed by the Victorian government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
The project aims to reduce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crop losses in southern Australia. GRDC estimates that diseases cost AUD323 million (US$294.4 million) for wheat and AUD126 million for barley annually in Australia's southern region, one third of which covers Victoria.
Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said the investment would help reduce this costly loss.
"Research will be carried out to study viral diseases in wheat and the cereal disease crown rot, which has become a bigger issue over drier seasons of the past 15 years," Helper said.
Department of Primary Industries deputy secretary of agriculture research and development, Dr Bruce Kefford, said research would also be carried out on screening for diseases in National Variety Trials and to obtain a better understanding of nematodes, including root lesion nematodes and cereal cyst nematode.
"Pulse growers will benefit from research to better understand and control viruses and fungal diseases in pulses, one of the highest value crops in the rotation," Kefford said.
