pest

Central Queensland advisors and grain growers can access specialist advice on the effective management of grain crop pests like heliothis, thrips and pod borer when two of Australia's leading entomologists visit Moura and Emerald next month... Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Principal Entomologist Dr Melina Miles and DAFF Senior Entomologist Hugh Brier will lead discussions on key management recommendations for heliothis in corn, sorghum and chickpeas; pod borer, thrips, mirids and vegetative damage in mungbeans; whitefly and mealybug during two insect pest management workshops... The morning sessions will be held in Moura on February 3 at the Moura Coal and Cattle Hotel from 8:30am to midday and in Emerald on February 4 at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) conference room between 8:30am and midday...

International workshop in fight against global pest Australian crop scientists were among the only participants in an international workshop who did not leave at home a major global grain pest - the Russian wheat aphid - when they travelled to Singapore earlier this year... The workshop, which involved one of the most collaborative groups of scientists I've met with in some time, highlighted the critical need for an IPM approach," Dr Rainbow said... Dr Rainbow said the workshop also identified the imperative for further research to understand how Russian wheat aphid strains or biotypes are developing virulence to resistant varieties and causing increasing damage to wheat...

Strategies for improving water-use efficiency in western regions through increasing harvest index.. 4. Increase the total proportion of dry matter that is grain i.e. improve harvest index (e.g. early flowering varieties, delayed nitrogen, wider row spacing, low plant densities, minimising losses to disease, high HI varieties such as H45 , Hindmarsh , Wyalkatchem , Espada ).. Harvest index is calculated as the ratio of grain to total dry matter (and is sometimes expressed as a percentage);..

Paddocks with a history of poor strikes may have high levels of soil insects... Press wheels can reduce damage from false wireworm larvae and earwigs by encouraging plant emergence and firming the soil to reduce insects ability to move through it... Cutworms feed on leaves and stems of young plants, with most damage caused by older caterpillars that may cut down plants to eat the leaves...

Paddocks with a history of poor strikes may have high levels of soil insects... Press wheels can reduce damage from false wireworm larvae and earwigs by encouraging plant emergence and firming the soil to reduce insects ability to move through it... Cutworms feed on leaves and stems of young plants, with most damage caused by older caterpillars that may cut down plants to eat the leaves...

Paddocks with a history of poor strikes may have high levels of soil insects... Press wheels can reduce damage from false wireworm larvae and earwigs by encouraging plant emergence and firming the soil to reduce insects ability to move through it... Cutworms feed on leaves and stems of young plants, with most damage caused by older caterpillars that may cut down plants to eat the leaves...

As larvae feed at the nodes, infestation during and after stem elongation can result in weakening of the stems, lodging, and lack of head development and seed-set... The first instar is 0.5 to 1.7mm long and spends 12 to 15 hours crawling down the leaf to the feeding site between the leaf sheath and stem... Look along leaves for eggs and check for maggots or flaxseeds by pulling the leaf sheath away from the stem to the base of the plant...

As larvae feed at the nodes, infestation during and after stem elongation can result in weakening of the stems, lodging, and lack of head development and seed-set... The first instar is 0.5 to 1.7mm long and spends 12 to 15 hours crawling down the leaf to the feeding site between the leaf sheath and stem... Look along leaves for eggs and check for maggots or flaxseeds by pulling the leaf sheath away from the stem to the base of the plant...