Promising fruit fly trap to be tested on grapes
Agriculture Victoria scientists are set to trial a new trapping strategy in Victorian vineyards, in a bid to control a major horticulture pest.
Tag: biosecurity
Exotic pest profile: spotted wing drosophila
The fly called spotted wing drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii) is emerging as a global plant pest of significance. It attacks a range of soft skinned fruit and reduces crop yield and quality through direct feeding damage and secondary infection of the fruit.
Wheat disease ‘boom and bust’ cycle discovered
Latest research, led by the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM), has uncovered a ‘boom and bust’ pathogen cycle that may be the key to developing new and improved management strategies and disease ratings for the damaging wheat disease septoria nodorum blotch (SNB).
Safeguarding your stock before and after a natural disaster
Across Australia, extreme weather comes and goes with the seasons. Fires, flood, droughts and storms have formed part of the short- and long-term cycles of weather on this continent forever.
Fall armyworm detected in Torres Strait
The exotic plant pest fall armyworm has been detected for the first time in Australia, in a network of surveillance traps on the northern Torres Strait islands of Saibai and Erub.
Pesticide alters wasp microbiome for generations
Exposure to the widely used pesticide atrazine leads to heritable changes in the gut microbiome of wasps, according to US research.
Launch of the International Year of Plant Health in Australia
Garnering support across Australia to protect plants from pests and diseases is the aim of the launch of the International Year of Plant Health at Parliament House, Canberra on 6 February 2020.
FTR grass demands attention to stop seed set
Feathertop Rhodes (FTR) grass is quickly becoming one of the biggest weed threats in Australian farming systems, demanding swift and decisive action. The vast number of seeds produced per plant and the species’ ability to germinate and establish on very small rainfall events, gives this…
Conservation fencing Aussie Ark – Aussie mammals
Aussie Ark is returning Barrington Tops to its original state prior to European settlement.
Cereal killer’s deadly touch could lead to new wheat threat
Scientists have uncovered the origins of the world’s deadliest strain of cereal rust disease which threatens global food security.
A modelling tool to rapidly predict weed spread risk
In the study, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the researchers developed the tool that uses information about the features of a weed species and the geography of the area in which it has been reported to predict specific locations where the…
Finding the ‘needle in a haystack’ with new portable DNA device
A new smart-phone sized technology to quickly sequence DNA is being tested by University of Canberra researchers, through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) and Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, for its early warning potential to detect invasive species.