A year of contrasts and extremes

摘要

With extreme seasons on either side of the country, Kondinin Group checked in with growers from across Australia to see what Mother Nature delivered during 2010. Battling drought and flood — growers had to make some different management decisions toget the most out of a difficult-to-manage season. Preventative fungicides were applied to wheat crops and successfully controlled rust. However, John has lost a considerable amount of wheat to a mystery 'white head' disease. At this stage the disease isthought to be linked to the soil-borne Fusarium pathogen that attacks heads at the flowering stage in cold and wet conditions. "The disease leaves wheat heads white, with some wheat heads missing the top two to three grains, while others have the whole head affected with no grain fill at all," John explained. "With my double cropping program this has left some crops are uneven. Those crops that did not flower appear to have escaped infection and filled well."