Wagga Wagga Plant & Invertebrate Pathology Group

Biological control of pest snails in Australia using native nematodes
Four types of pest snails, Cernuella virgata (vineyard snail or common white snail), Theba pisana (white Italian snail or sand dune snail), Cochicella barbara , (small conical or pointed snail) and Cochicella acuta (conical or pointed snail) have caused serious damage to the grain industry in Australia (particularly in South Australia) over the last decades. Among various control options, the biological control method offers a hope for reducing the number of pest snails in an environmentally friendly way. This project is designed to control pest snails with nematode-based biocontrol agent. Read more....

Biopesticides for the Australian Grain Industry
Sucking insects like aphids can cause significant yield losses in agriculture due to the direct effects of feeding and the indirect effects associated with the spread of viruses. Current control of sucking insects relies on the use of chemical insecticides; however, these encourage the development of chemical resistance and suppress natural predator populations. Integrated Pest Management programs that reduce the reliance on chemical pesticide therefore are likely to provide better management strategies for the future. Read more....

Whole genome sequencing of economically important fungal pathogens of plants and insects.
Next generation sequencing enables high speed, low-cost analysis of genomes. Currently used in human cancer research, comparative genomics has wide application for understanding host pathogen interactions in agriculture. Information from this research will enable the discovery of key genes to combat plant pathogens and enhance biological control agents. This project focuses on three agriculturally important fungal pathogens. Read more....

Grapevine pathology and nematology
Grape vines are prone to attack by a range of fungal pathogens; the mature berries are particularly susceptible in climates that experience summer rainfall during the ripening period. This project is involved with characterising fungal pathogens associated with bunch rot of grapes, particularly in sub-tropical environments such as the Hunter Valley. The project has concentrated on two diseases, ripe rot caused by either Colletotrichum acutatum or C. gloeosporioides and bitter rot caused by Greeneria uvicola. A focus of the work has been on disease management and how environmental factors influence disease incidence. Read more....

Suppression of grapevine root disease by soil bacteria

Increasing vineyard soil organic matter increases the activity of bacteria suppressive to fungal grapevine root and lower trunk diseases caused by fungal pathogens such as Cylindrocarpon spp Read more....

Bacterial inflorescence rot of grapevine caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae

Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae causes loss of grape bunches early in the growing season, especially in wet spring conditions. Read more....

Fungal causes of Young Vine decline in Australia.

Grapevine planting material contaminated with Cylindrocarpon spp., Botryosphaeria spp., Rhizoctonia spp., Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and Phaeoacremonium spp. have been widely planted in Australian vineyards, causing uneven vineyards with declining young vines. Read more....

Young Vine Decline in the Riverina- influence of nematodes

Both pest and beneficial nematodes in soil from two vineyards were assessed twice (summer and winter) in a year. Root populations of pest nematodes were also assessed. Interactions between root lesion nematode and young vine decline fungi were established. Effect of different organic amendments on nematodes has been assessed. Read more....

Capacity Building in Crop Disease Management and Spray Application
This project was designed to improve food security and safety through the implementation of sustainable, integrated pest management strategies and to produce food with minimal pesticides inputs and residues in East Timor. Pests and diseases cause substantial crop losses in Timor Leste (between 31 and 40% of crops grown by subsistence farmers in SE Asia can be lost due to pests and diseases) contributing to the food insecurity of the country. Read more....

Strengthening the Cambodian and Australian vegetable industries through adoption of improved production and postharvest practices
Vegetable consumption in Cambodia is currently one of the lowest in Asia, and what produce is available from local production is heavily supplemented by imports. The Cambodian government has a long term plan to replace much of those imports with local production, and significantly increase the consumption of vegetables. Read more....

Exploiting resistance to Septoria in wheat
The 'Exploiting Septoria resistance in wheat' project has successfully developed germplasm and associated molecular markers to assist the rapid introgression of five Septoria tritici blotch (STB) resistance genes. Australian breeding programs now have access to ten F3 populations with combinations of five (stb2,3,4,6,11) and seven (stb2,3,6,7,10,11,12) resistance genes. Fourteen existing marker associations with eight STB resistance genes were validated. Read more....

High yielding winter cereal genotypes for irrigated environments in SE Australia
Cereal breeding programs within Australia have been focused on producing germplasm that are selected to perform under dryland production. This has resulted in an absence of variety improvement in the important irrigated farming systems of south east Australia. To address this issue an integrative project between NSW DPI, growers, breeders and GRDC is being conducted. Read more....

Using unstructured populations and association mapping approach to identify key alleles for water stresses in wheat
This project aims to increase knowledge about the genetic control of yield and associated traits in contrasting plant available moisture environments. This will be achieved by identifying germplasm and QTL which are implicated in stress avoidance or improved performance in stressed and non-stressed environments. Read more....

Integrated disease management for cereal and broad leaf crops in southern NSW & northern Victoria
The grains industry in southern NSW and northern Victoria covers a wide variety of rainfall zones and cropping systems. Cereal, oilseed and pulse crops form the basis of cropping rotations in this region. Despite the recent dry seasons, diseases are still a major constraint to grain production across all crop types. Read more....

Understanding interactions between the expression of Adult Plant Resistance to Stripe rust, fungicide applications and the environment - Southern NSW component of National project
Foliar diseases are a major constraint to national wheat yield stability, and cause annual industry wide costs ranging from yield loss and down grading of grain, to chemical control expenses and removal of preferred varieties from recommendation lists. Read more....

NVT Disease screening, STB, Yr, Lr and YLS
The provision of plant pathology services to the winter cereal sector has a long history at Wagga Wagga. The disease nurseries at Wagga Wagga are the only site in SNSW providing independent ratings of commercial varieties to growers servicing a winter cereal cropping area of approximately 2 million hectares per year. Read more....

Estimation of disease losses to the Australian wheat, barley, oilseeds and pulse industries
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National Brassica Germplasm Improvement Project

Identify novel sources of resistance to Leptosphaeria maculans (Blackleg) in Brassica sp.

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Cell & Molecular Biology of Oomycete Plant Pathogens
Oomycete plant pathogens are responsible for many plant diseases and have, for a long time, been erroneously grouped with fungi due to their filamentous hyphal growth forms. The infective agents of oomycetes however, are microscopic, motile zoospores and they have a close molecular affinity with brown algae, not fungi. Our research aims to find oomycete-specific control agents grounded in a knowledge of unique features of their cell and molecular components. Read more....

Pathogenicity and molecular identification of Botryosphaeriaceae canker and bunch rot (PhD project)
Botryosphaeriaceae fungi causing Botryosphaeria canker, an internal infection of the wood which leads to grapevine decline and dieback, are a great concern for the viticulture industry. Primarily regarded as a wood pathogen of grapevines, there have however, been some reports of Botryosphaeriaceae isolations from bunches of table grapes in the United States. More recently, species of Botryosphaeriaceae have been isolated from rotten bunches of grapevines in subtropical wine regions. Read more....

Biopesticides for the control of greenhouse whitefly (PhD project)
The greenhouse whitefly (GHWF), Trialeurodes vaporariorum is one of the world's most destructive greenhouse pests attacking more than 275 species of ornamental and horticultural crops worldwide. Non-chemical controls are gaining popularity due to increasing chemical resistance and public pressure.
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Genetic diversity, epidemiology and management of Elsinoë australis, causal organism of black scab disease of jojoba plants (Simmondsia chinensis) (PhD project)
Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) is an evergreen shrub which has emerged as a viable cash crop in many regions of the world. Its main value is the seed of the plant, which can be harvested and crushed for wax oil of commercial value to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. Several agronomic characteristics make the plant suited to farming systems adapted to climate change while providing a diversified income for farmers. Read more....

The biology and epidemiology of species of Botryosphaeriaceae as grapevine trunk disease pathogen in south-eastern Australia (PhD project)
Several species of Botryosphaeriaceae have been frequently reported to be associated with declining grapevines worldwide. In 2005, grapevines from 11 vineyards in the Hunter Valley and Mudgee regions of NSW were surveyed for the presence of Botryosphaeriaceae.
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Epidemiology, pathogenicity and diversity of Pseudomonas fuscovaginae in rice
The sheath brown rot disease in rice, caused by Pseudomonas fuscovaginae, was first reported in Australia in 2009. Presently not prevalent in Australia, it poses a threat to the industry with the potential to affect rice exports. As very little is known about the disease, this project will generate basis information about the causal organism by examining its epidemiology and pathogenicity.
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The use of Metarhizium anisopliae as a biological control agent against sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius Fabr. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Papua New Guinea (PhD project)
Sweet potato is a dominant food crop in Papua New Guinea; however, infestation of pests and diseases are the main contributors to annual yield decline. Sweet potato weevil (SPW), Cylas formicarius Fab. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is the most destructive pest of sweet potato, as both the adult and larva directly feed on the underground tubers.
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Genetic resistance to diseases of Lupinus albus caused by Diaporthe toxica (PhD project)
Phomopsis blight of Lupinus albus. A; Contrasting a resistant cultivar on right (Hamburg) with a susceptible breeding line on left (WK264). Note the darkened and shrivelled pods. B; Characteristic pycnidia (“leopard” spotting) on albus stubble, stems such as these will contain the toxins responsible for lupinosis. C; Heavily infected pods and seeds from field grown plants after late season rain.
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Targeting, detection and risk assessment capability for exotic pest nematodes
Plant parasitic nematodes cause documented losses of over AU$600 million annually to the Australian agriculture. Australia is fortunate in lacking many of the known damaging species of nematodes, but with increasing volumes and sources of traded goods there is increased risk of these species gaining entry to Australia.
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Identification and characterisation of necrosis and chlorosis inducing substances produced by Mycosphaerella graminicola
The mechanisms of pathogenicity of the devastating wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola (the cause of septoria tritici blotch) are still poorly understood. Throughout the world M. graminicola inflicts significant yield losses with a rapid development of resistance to the used fungicides.
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