Technical Program News | Your Levy at Work

NGIA and the Australian Banana Growers Council (ABGC) announce changes to the Quality Approved Banana Nursery (QBAN) program

by Chris OConnor • Biosecurity, NGI Updates, Technical Program News

Nursery and Garden Industry Australia (NGIA) and the Australian Banana Growers Council (ABGC) have formed a partnership to start a new project which will see the existing Quality Approved Banana Nursery (QBAN) Scheme transition from a government run scheme to an industry run scheme.

The new scheme will target priority diseases such as Panama disease TR4 and Banana Bunchy Top Virus, and will provide a superior disease-tested product that is the preferred, cost-effective source of planting material. This will enhance banana grower’s on-farm biosecurity management and assist growers to meet their obligations under state biosecurity legislation.

The scheme will cover tissue culture laboratories and production nurseries but will also investigate the feasibility for clean mother stock blocks and in-ground production nurseries to become accredited for the supply of clean material.

Pest of the month: Bacterial wilt

by Levy Communications • Tech Talk, Technical Program News • Tags: bacteria, Bacterial wilt, pest of the month

Month: June 2017

Pest of the month: Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum)

Category name: Bacteria

Importance: Emergency disease: No, however not found in Western Australia.

Symptoms: The bacterium that causes bacterial wilt is a xylem vessel coloniser which produces cell wall degrading enzymes. The pathogen multiplies rapidly in the vascular tissue and fills xylem with bacterial cells and slime, thus preventing water uptake. More

Workshops: building on-farm biosecurity and resilience

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates, Technical Program News

Image courtesy of NGIT

Growers are invited to attend a series of upcoming biosecurity workshops and farm walks, aimed at providing practical tips for monitoring pests and diseases as well as a step-by-step process for diagnosing unknown plant health problems.

Entomologists and plant pathologists Andrew Manners and John Duff, who specialise in production nursery biosecurity at the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), are running the workshops as part of the nursery levy funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002). More

Webinar focuses the hand lens on common nursery pest

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates, Technical Program News

Accurate mite identification is critical to protect stock, minimise throw-outs and reduce the cost of control.

These are some of the take home messages Dr Andrew Manners and John Duff from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) delivered to nursery producers and industry representatives during a recent Mite identification and management webinar.

The one hour presentation covered a range of topics that are highly relevant to production nurseries, including how to identify common groups of pest mites, monitoring techniques, available control options and resources for further information. Attendees were given the opportunities to ask questions and participate in polls during the presentation. More

Pest of the month: Bean spider mite

by Levy Communications • Tech Talk, Technical Program News

Month: May 2017

Pest of the month: Bean spider mite (Tetranychus ludeni)

Category name: Mites

Importance: Minor – sometimes important

Similar to: Two-spotted mite

Description: Egg: Minute, globular, almost transparent, can have reddish tinge. Immatures: Similar to two-spotted mite. Adult: Uniformly dark red, distinguishing it from two-spotted mite which is yellowish-green with two dark spots. In cooler climates the red overwintering phase of two-spotted mite is a lighter red than that of bean spider mite. More

Where should all the trees go?

by Levy Communications • Technical Program News

Imagine having to look at 139,000 photos, and decide if they’re mostly of grass, trees, or hard surfaces.

That’s what a team of researchers has spent the past few months doing, as part of the project Where should all the trees go? An investigation of the impact of tree canopy cover on socio-economic status and wellbeing in LGAs (NY16005).

It follows on from the 2014 report Where are all the trees? – which created Australia’s first national baseline measurement of tree canopy cover – and will update and compare those figures for each of Australia’s 139 urban Local Government Areas. More