Your Levy at Work

MT18005 UPDATE – Using next generation sequencing to provide plant industry quick-access to new plant genetic material

A joint-levy funded project is facilitating faster and more accurate screening methods on imported nursery planting stock to allow for the introduction of new genetic material that will help maintain diversity in changing environmental conditions, shoring up the future sustainability of the nursery industry.

‘Improving plant industry access to new genetics through faster and more accurate diagnostics using next generation sequencing’ (MT18005) project, is seeking to improve plant industry access to new genetics by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of virus detection at post-entry quarantine (PEQ) facilities.

July Pest of the Month: Algal leaf spot

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Name: Agal leaf spot (cephaleuros virescens)

Symptoms are mainly found on leaves but depending on the plant species it can infest twigs, limbs and fruit. The disease usually attack the leaves on low hanging branches without affecting higher foliage. Symptoms include green, yellow-green, or rust coloured leaf spots up to 5mm in size, which appear raised, roughly circular and cushion like.

Stems many develop cankers where infestation is high, and may be covered with reddish brown hairlike fruiting bodies and eventually produced rust-coloured “spores”. Fruit damage is limited to the skin with slightly sunken, cracked dark appearance.

Project GC16002 bringing green roofs to life

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

As urban densification increases in Australia’s cities and towns, green roofs stand to be an incredibly important aspect of urban planning, and a major opportunity for the nursery industry.

A levy-funded project is working to gain a better understanding of the cultural, community and horticultural barriers to greater green roof construction in Australia. On completion, growers will have more information around the market opportunities surrounding green roofs.

Kicking off in June 2018, the levy-funded project ‘Researching the benefits of demonstration green roofs across Australia’ (GC16002) aimed to identify approaches in overcoming these barriers and will develop a range of tools and guides to assist the green infrastructure industry.

After some delays a major part of the project, the construction of a green roof in Melbourne’s CBD to test plant performance in different environments, is due to be completed in late 2020, with planting anticipated to start in early 2021.

Implementing effective IPM using BioSecure HACCP procedures

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Thursday, 11 June 2020

The levy funded ‘Improving pest management for the nursery industry’ (NY17009) project has moved into the second phase, seeking to perform a cost benefit analysis on the implementation of elements of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in production nurseries.

The project team at Greenlife Industry Australia have partnered with Biological Services, who will be using their expertise in pests and diseases, crop lifecycle, population thresholds and methods for management, to perform crop monitoring for the project and making recommendations to participating production nurseries.

During this phase, the seven participating production nurseries will begin implementing the four BioSecure HACCP procedures for ‘site surveillance’, ‘crop monitoring’, ‘materials import inspections’ and ‘materials dispatch inspections’ into their businesses.

The BioSecure HACCP procedures employed in this project will inform growers of the pest status within their crops at any given time, allowing for better decision making when selecting the most appropriate IPM management method. More

NEW Nursery industry video case study series available now

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Video is becoming an increasingly important medium for the levy-funded Nursery industry communications program (NY18001), to share information to equip growers and production staff with the latest levy funded information and resources to help grow their businesses.

Project provider, Cox Inall Communications, has recently completed a series of three videos which showcase how various growers across the country have been able to leverage levy-funded research and outputs to improve operations, whether that be through marketing, quality assurance or disaster recovery.

Check out the videos below! More

June Pest of the Month: Grey mould

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Name: Grey mould (Botrytis)

Symptoms include:

Blights, spots, blotches, wilts, cankers, rots, damping off and storage diseases. Usually the softer tissues such as petals are blighted, though leaf spotting, stem blights and rotting of cuttings and seed occur, especially in crowded situations. Early symptoms are small spots, which can extend into large areas of blight and later the characteristic grey mould comprised of masses of spores, which mostly become air-borne. Botrytis can affect plants at different stages of their life from seeds, bulbs and cuttings through to mature plants.