Minutes of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program Consultative Committee Meeting, Adelaide

Minutes of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program Consultative Committee Meeting, Adelaide

10th March 2011

Chair - John Sheppard.

Minutes/Secretary – Grant Hollaway.

Present: S. Neate, I. Dundas, J. Reinheimer, R. Richards, G. Robinson, A. Milgate, G. Ellis, C. Wellings, D Singh, M. Shankar, Dion LeBrun (vice Michael Schaefer), Barry Large, H. Wallwork, R. Loughman, R. Rainbow, J. Eglington, S Hoppo, R. McLean, A. Bedggood, H. Kuchel, J. Mayer, P. Neilson, R. Wilson, I. Edwards, M. Ahmad, H. Bariana, M. Whiting, Craig Ruchs, R. Lance, K. Young, C. Edmenson, I. Barklay, M. Appelbee, L. O’Brien, M. Lu, U. Bansal, S. Jefferies, J. Edwards, R. Eastwood, G. Hollaway, J. Sheppard, C. Moore, J. Able, R. Park (via video link),B. Jacobs, B Whan. S. Thorn (& a few I did not get)

Apologies:, Greg Platz, David Moody, Jerry Franckowiak.

Welcome by Chair - John Sheppard.

Minutes of the meeting (11th March 2010) were accepted. as tabled.

Moved: Ian Edwards; Seconded: Robert Loughman.

Correspondance:

Outwards: Letter to ASF

Inwards: Nil

Consultative Committee March 2011 to Feb 2012

Director ACRCP – Robert Park

Cereal Breeding Representation

AGT – Russell Eastwood

InterGrain – Robin Wilson

Longreach – Bertus Jacobs

Durum – Jason Able

HRZ – Richard Richards

Barley Breeder from national Program – Jason Eglington

Oat Breeder – Sue Hoppo

Triticale – Britt Kalmeier

Cereal Pathologist representation

WA – Robert Loughman

SA – Hugh Wallwork

Vic – Grant Hollaway – Secretary (now chair)

NSW – Andrew Milgate

Qld – Greg Platz

Group representation

ASF – Peter Neilson

GPA – Michael Schaefer (Sth), Stuart Thorn (Nth), Barry Large (Wst)

GRDC – Rohan Rainbow, Juan Juttner, Andreas Betzner

NVT – Alan Bedggood

John Sheppard – Chair (until close of meeting).

Robyn McLean – Secretary (at end of the meeting).

Research Reports

Copies of presentations given on the day are to be found on the NVT web site www.nvtonline.com.au (members area - pathology) and form part of the minutes of the meeting.

Director’s report - Robert Park – live from the USA

·  Robert, provided an overview of some of his work as part of his Fulbright scholarship at the USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he is testing Australian wheat and barley germplasm to exotic stem and leaf rust pathotypes.

·  Robert provided an overview of staff and student activities at PBI and findings from the 2010 surveys of wheat stem and leaf rusts, barley leaf rust and oat crown rust.

·  Some time was spent on the 21 recommendations from the GRDC review of the ACRCP.

·  Robert acknowledged Colin Wellings’ “Seed of Light” award from the GRDC. This is a tribute to Colin’s tireless efforts in communicating rust information to the grains industry, especially following the 2002 stripe rust introduction that rapidly spread across Australia.

Rust resistance genetics in barley and oats – Davinda Singh

·  Refer to NVT web site for details from this presentation.

Wheat Stripe Rust and Oat Crown Rust Survey 2010 – Colin Wellings

·  Colin’s report of a very busy year for rust surveying can be found on the NVT web site.

Wheat Genetics Research Update: back crossing and genetic analysis. – Harbans Bariana

·  A copy of Harbans’ presentation can be found on the NVT web site.

CSIRO ACRCP Research Update 2011 – Jeff Ellis

·  Jeff’s presentation can be found on the NVT web site.

Wide crossing and domestication (wheat and oats) – Ian Dundas.

·  Ian’s presentation can be found on the NVT web site.

NVT Screening

NVT Screening at Cobbitty for 2011 – Juan Juttner

·  Continued talks between GRDC and the University of Sydney have failed to reach agreement with regard to a NVT services agreement. NVT lines will therefore continue to be screened at Cobbitty as part of their research agreement. Discussions will continue.

NVT wheat pathology screening 2010/11 – Grant Hollaway

·  Grant gave an overview of the outcomes of the pathologists’ working group meeting held 9th March 2011. The updated wheat NVT disease screening protocol is shown in Appendix 1.

·  Good progress has been made with regard to providing agreed ratings and publication of data for a wider range of diseases in the last year.

All disease ratings will be distributed to wheat breeders for comment before publication.
When possible, all disease ratings will be finalised by 30th January each year to enable publication of agreed ratings in regional disease guides.
A lack of NVT data on Staganospora nodorum was identified as a concern.
There is also a desire to implement a similar system for barley, noting that Greg Platz has a system that is well advanced. There is, however concern for the funding of this activity into the future.

Deposition of seed of new varieties – Alan Bedggood

Meeting participants were reminded to deposit 5 kg of untreated seed of new cultivars with Alan Bedggood to be included in the AUSVAR set for annual disease screening for the next 5 years.

Fungicide use in NVT trials – Juan Juttner

·  Juan gave an over view of the NVT program that includes 620 trials (~half wheat).

·  Mixed thoughts from growers on the issues of fungicide use in NVT trials.

·  During 2010 50 wheat trials were sown as 4 rep trials (+/- fungicides), with 35 of these sprayed.

·  In process of setting up grower/agronomist advisory groups across Australia.

·  For 2011 all wheat trials will be sprayed where it is current practice to do so and strategic 4 rep trials (i.e. 50 trials) will be retained with a single rep unsprayed (to maintain a resource for pathologists).

·  Cultivars will have to meet minimum rust disease standards to enter NVT trials.

·  There was good support from the audience for what was proposed.

Offshore Rust Testing – Bedggood (NZ), Wellings (elsewhere)

·  Alan gave an update on the progress toward getting the AUSVAR set tested in New Zealand. To achieve this, the AUSVAR set was sown in the field at Horsham and inspected by a NZ government agency. This seed can now be tested in NZ in 2011.

·  Colin gave an update on the 2010 testing in Mexico by Ravi Singh for barley stripe rust. This set included the EBDSN. (S. Neate asked if we have knowledge of which areas of Aust barley stripe rust will go well in, as it does not go well in all parts of the USA. Colin thought it would go well in all areas, but this is not based on a study).

·  Harbans sends all new cultivars to Kenya for Ug99 testing.

Minimum Disease Standards

Report from the MDS exceptions committee – A. Bedggood

·  Alan gave an update on the activity of the committee in the last year when they considered Scout.

·  There was much debate as to the value or otherwise of the exceptions committee with some questioning the point. Some of the concern was with regard to the transparency of the system that resulted in the following motion:

Motion: The outcomes of the MDS exceptions committee, as reported to the submitting company, be published on the NVT web site and Ground Cover in a relevant form.
Moved – Robert Loughman; Seconded Hugh Wallwork
Carried by majority vote - 9 for, 0 against.

·  Following further discussion on the issues of the MDS exceptions committee and its merits later in the day the following motion was proposed:

· 

Motion: Invite stakeholders to put forward ideas to the ACRCP CC with regard to changes to MDS exception committee process and/or issues with regard to MDS.
.
Moved – Rohan Rainbow; Seconded Hugh Wallwork
The motion is lost - 3 For, 9 Against.

·  A second motion was then proposed:

Motion: To disband the MDS exceptions committee.
.
Moved – Steve Jefferies; Seconded Chris Moore
The motion is lost - 5 For, 8 Against.

Update on discussions with the ASF with regard to MDS and variety marketing – Sheppard

·  Following on from two actions at the last meeting:

o  A letter be sent to the ASF with regard for the need for all wheat varieties to be advertised with information on all three rust reactions, with some background to this resolution. And

o  John Sheppard to invite more players involved in the release of cereal cultivars to the next ACRCP CC meeting

A letter was sent to the CEO of the ASF. Following discussions a revised letter was then sent, but following this, before there was any action the CEO resigned.

Peter Neilson will follow up with the ASF on this issue and also issues that are relevant to both the ACRCP CC and the WBRG.

Action: Peter Neilson to follow up with the ASF on behalf of the ACRCPCC.

Review of current Minimum Disease Standards

·  The MDS as endorsed at the last meeting were presented and following a brief discussion it was decided that a more simplified presentation of the MDS should be developed.

·  An intial draft was developed during the lunch break and presented to the meeting following lunch.

·  The draft was presented (see Appendix 2) with general agreement but further work needs to be undertaken to assign reference cultivars for each disease and each region prior to the next meeting (Sept 2011).

Action: The MDS reference cultivars to be reviewed prior to the September 2011 meeting

Issues for 2011

Regional Updates 2010/11 - Pathologists

·  A presentation on seasonal conditions was given by each state based plant pathologist for each region. These presentations can be found on the NVT web site for more information.

·  A report by Andrew Milgate is in Appendix 3.

Rust Bust Campaign – G. Hollaway, B. Cay and D. Lush

·  Grant gave an overview of the discussions in previous meetings that resulted in the appointment of ‘Raising the Barr Communications’ to develop and deliver the Rust Bust campaign. This campaign is funded by the GRDC and overseen by the ACRCP CC.

·  Belinda and Dianna gave an overview of the Rust Bust campaign (see NVT web site for their presentations)

·  See www.rustbust.com.au for the rust bust web site.

·  Any suggestions or additional information for the web site should be forwarded to:

·  Comments from the floor with regard to the RustBust campaign included

o  Great concept that is looking very good.

o  Link to NVT pathology information?

o  The question of rust bust endorsed varieties was raised, but discussion in 2009 had discounted this approach.

o  Link to NVT web site for support with variety information.

o  Target agronomists with the communication information.

o  Suggest look for agronomists (not growers) to champion the cause.

o  Provide information on what a S variety will mean in relation to management.

o  Issues about APR could be covered.

o  Include a glossary of terms.

Other Business

Review of Cobbitty field screeing activities for 2010 and suggestions for improvement – Bariana

·  Harbans discussed the 2010 field nurseries.

·  There was much discussion around making requirements of users more clear with a more formal process for documenting the screening requirements.

·  It was decided that a sub-committee be established to develop a process to better define the requirments of the users for Cobbitty.

Action: A sub-committee is to develop a formal process by the 24th March 2011 for nursery users to provide their requirements to Cobbitty.
The sub-committee members: Robert Park, Harbans Bariana, Colin Edmenson, Hayden Kuchel (chair), Chris Moore and Ian Edwards.

·  Steve J noted that there is a need for an urgent sub-committee to discuss this process and the ramifications on the overall operations and costs at Cobbitty. Needs to be a focused team, but needs action now.

ACRCP Review – Rohan Rainbow

·  Rohan gave an update on the GRDC review of the ACRCP and this is provided in his presentation available on the NVT web site. He expects to provide more detail of the review at the September meeting.

Election of Office Bearers

·  John Sheppard declared all positions vacant.

·  Grant Hollaway was nominated and elected un-opposed to the position of Chairman.

·  Robyn McLean was nominated by Robin Wilson (seconded by Peter Neilson) and elected un-opposed to the position of secretary.

Next Meeting

·  To be held at PBI tentatively during the week of 26th Sept

Thanks

The meeting thanked John Sheppard for his 4 years of service to the ACRCP CC as secretary and then chairman.

Thanks were also given to Sam Marchent for organizing venue and catering.

Meeting Closed.

Appendices:

Appendix I

AUSVAR and NVT Wheat Disease Assessment

Appendix II

Minimum Disease Standards (10th March 2011)

Appendix III

NSW Cereal Rust Report to the CCACRCP

AUSVAR and NVT Wheat Disease Assessment

ACRCP Consultative Committee Pathology Working Group

10th March 2011

Objective

This document aims to capture the processes for disease assessment and assignment of disease ratings of AUSVAR and NVT wheat lines with the aim, in conjunction with NVT, to:

1.  support the development of consistent, robust variety assessments based on data collected from agreed locations,

2.  develop a repository of NVT data accessible to breeders and pathologists working in this area,

3.  provide an NVT mediated information resource on which to base assessment of variety resistance and/or tolerance responses

Definition of lines

The NVT set will be divided into two parts:

1.  NVT

a)  NVT First Entries in their first year of testing within the NVT.

b)  NVT Retentions Entries in their second or subsequent years of testing.

2.  AUSVAR

The AUSVAR set includes all named cultivars.

a.  AUSVAR First Named varieties in the AUSVAR set for their first year.

b.  AUSVAR Named wheat varieties that have been included in the AUSVAR set for more than one year.

The AUSVAR consists of wheat lines that appear in any Australian disease guide in the year of publication and which still represent a significant area of production in Australia (i.e. the set will include the top ~100 wheat lines in Australia based on area of production, those wheat lines released within the previous 5 years, plus relevant MDS controls).