Final Report 2019/015
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FINAL REPORT 2019/015 Situation analysis and opportunities for pest, disease and weed RD&A (including biosecurity) in Australian sugarcane FINAL REPORT PREPARED BY Peter Allsopp CHIEF INVESTIGATOR(S) Peter Allsopp, Barry Croft, Emilie Fillols RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS Contractors, Sugar Research Australia DATE 10 August 2020 KEY FOCUS AREA (KFA) KFA3. Pest, disease and weed management © Copyright 2020 by Sugar Research Australia Limited. Copyright in this document is owned by Sugar Research Australia Limited (SRA) or by one or more other parties which have provided it to SRA, as indicated in the document. With the exception of any material protected by a trade mark, this document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (as described through this link). Any use of this publication, other than as authorised under this licence or copyright law, is prohibited. This link takes you to the relevant licence conditions, including the full legal code. In referencing this document, please use the citation identified in the document. Disclaimer: In this disclaimer a reference to “SRA” means Sugar Research Australia Ltd and its directors, officers, employees, contractors and agents. This document has been prepared in good faith by the organisation or individual named in the document on the basis of information available to them at the date of publication without any independent verification. Although SRA does its best to present information that is correct and accurate, to the full extent permitted by law SRA makes no warranties, guarantees or representations about the suitability, reliability, currency or accuracy of the information in this document, for any purposes. The information contained in this document (including tests, inspections and recommendations) is produced for general information only. 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Please cite as: Allsopp PG, Croft BJ, Fillols EF (2020) Situation analysis and opportunities for pest, disease and weed RD&A (including biosecurity) in Australian sugarcane: Final Report Project 2019/015. Sugar Research Australia Limited, Brisbane. Sugar Research Australia Final Report - Project 2019/015 ABSTRACT Given Sugar Research Australia’s (SRA) investment in and management of a portfolio of RD&A projects that drive productivity, profitability and sustainability for the Australian sugarcane industry, SRA is committed to setting the right targets, managing research investments to maximise the likelihood of success, and ensuring the delivery and adoption of project outcomes and impacts across the Australian sugarcane industry. SRA’s Key Focus Area 3 Pest, disease and weed management, aims to drive “Reduced or avoided yield losses and/or added input costs”. SRA commissioned a review of RD&A over the last 15 years that identifies emerging technology and best practice strategies for addressing pest, disease, weed and biosecurity threats in sugarcane. The review focused on four themes: • Biosecurity: enhance capacity to manage biosecurity risks • Pest control: enhance capability to deal with pests • Disease management: improve disease management strategies and technologies • Weed management: improve weed management strategies and technologies The review provides a set of recommendations for further RD&A that can be used by SRA to consult with industry and leading technical experts on the current management practices and threats, opportunities and priorities for pest, weed, disease and biosecurity management. 1 Sugar Research Australia Final Report - Project 2019/015 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sugar Research Australia’s (SRA) investment in and management of a portfolio of RD&A projects that drive productivity, profitability and sustainability for the Australian sugarcane industry means that SRA is committed to setting the right targets, managing research investments to maximise the likelihood of success, and ensuring the delivery and adoption of project outcomes and impacts across the Australian sugarcane industry. SRA’s Key Focus Area 3 Pest, disease and weed management, aims to drive “Reduced or avoided yield losses and/or added input costs”. SRA commissioned a review of RD&A over the last 15 years that identifies emerging technology and best practice strategies for addressing pest, disease, weed and biosecurity threats in sugarcane. Published and unpublished project reports were reviewed. The review focused on four themes: • Biosecurity: enhance capacity to manage biosecurity risks • Pest control: enhance capability to deal with pests • Disease management: improve disease management strategies and technologies • Weed management: improve weed management strategies and technologies The review provides: • A critical literature review and summary on each of these themes, focusing on priority issues that are likely to justify RD&A investment and covering work in reports and publications over the last 15 years from the Australian sugarcane industry, other sugarcane industries, and other agri-industries. • A review of techniques and technologies that address specific opportunities and threats in the current (and future) industry, including what R&D would be required to develop, adapt and commercialise/extend these techniques and technologies. • A summary of the opportunities for RD&A identified as informed by the above two bodies of work. The set of recommendations for further RD&A can be used by SRA to consult with industry and leading technical experts on the current management practices and threats, opportunities and priorities for pest, weed, disease and biosecurity management. 2 Sugar Research Australia Final Report - Project 2019/015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 2 1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................... 7 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................... 7 3. BIOSECURITY THREATS .................................................................................................................. 7 3.1. General.................................................................................................................................. 7 3.1.1 Responsibilities.............................................................................................................. 7 3.1.2 Germplasm exchange – post-entry quarantine ........................................................... 10 3.2 Exotic pests ......................................................................................................................... 11 3.2.1 Mothborers ................................................................................................................. 11 3.2.2 Whitegrubs .................................................................................................................. 20 3.2.3 Sucking pests ............................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Exotic diseases .................................................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Ramu stunt .................................................................................................................. 22 3.3.2 Sugarcane downy mildew ........................................................................................... 24 3.3.3 Mosaic viruses ............................................................................................................. 25 3.3.4 White leaf/grassy shoot phytoplasmas ....................................................................... 28 3.3.5 Leaf diseases including leaf scorch and exotic rusts .................................................... 29 3.3.6 Other potential exotic disease threats ........................................................................ 29 3.4 References .......................................................................................................................... 30 4. PEST MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................... 36 4.1. Canegrubs ........................................................................................................................... 36 4.1.1 Taxonomy ...................................................................................................................