The latest information will be outlined at a conference on February 7 and EH Graham Centre research liaison officer – communications, Toni Nugent says the timing couldn’t be better to fit in with growers as they start to think about the upcoming winter cropping season.

She said given the fact that there are many canola stubble paddocks about at the moment it was a good time for farmers to think about control options.

Last year a record area of canola was grown and planting is expected to be larger this year.

Given the importance of canola in many of the traditional rotations the crop was fast becoming the key to many mixed farming systems in southern Australia.

Conference organiser Dr John Angus said the biggest threat to canola was the fungal disease blackleg.

“For more than 20 years it has been kept under some control by disease-resistant varieties, fungicides and separating canola crops from canola stubbles to minimise infection by the blackleg spores,” he said.

“With the increased area of canola being grown it is becoming more difficult to provide the necessary separation of canola crops,” Dr Angus said.

He said there were two improvements in the pipeline to keep canola profitable.

The first was new information about canola crops.

“Canola groups are groups of canola varieties that are susceptible to the same strain of blackleg fungus,” he said.

Alternating canola varieties from different groups each year would assist in the control of blackleg and increase canola yield.

“The other improvement is the possible release of a new fungicide to control blackleg,” he said.

“The fungicide is in the same chemical group as others already on the market and management to prevent resistance to this chemical will be important in its future usage.”

These developments and how they fit in the context of existing methods of blackleg control will be discussed at the upcoming symposium Blackleg Breakthroughs 2012 at the Convention Centre, Charles Sturt University, Wagga on Tuesday 7 February 7.

The symposium is being hosted by the Ag Institute Australia (AIA) and the EH Graham Centre.

- Further details and the seminar program are available at www.aiast.com.au.