AHDB has strengthened its cereal disease management guidance for 2020 with a range of new tools, videos, web pages and publications. Charlotte Cunningham reports.

This announcement follows the move of cereals and oilseeds information to a new website, which will cover all content generated by AHDB: ahdb.org.uk

AHDB has also announced plans to update the industry on the status of the UK’s cereal pathogen populations.

The AHDB Wheat and barley disease management guide and associated web pages are major new resources. Together, they provide the in-depth information required to tackle major cereal diseases through integrated pest management (IPM).

Complementing the popular AHDB Encyclopaedia of cereal diseases, the new guidance highlights disease risk factors and provides at-a-glance management solutions.

Target disease web pages dive deeper and explore hosts, life cycles and symptoms. The pages also bring together developments on non-chemical and chemical control, including fungicide performance data and tips on designing fungicide programmes.

Digital solutions

Catherine Harries, who manages disease research at AHDB, says: “Our industry embraces digital solutions. In the fast-paced world of crop protection, this is good news. When chemistry is lost, fungicide resistance rears its head or varietal resistance is overcome, we can adapt our guidance accordingly.”

The AHDB Recommended Lists (RL) has exploited the digital arena for many years, with results released online months ahead of the physical publication. To add value to the RL, the 2020/21 data was launched alongside an online variety selection tool. Later this year, AHDB plans to issue an RL app to ensure the latest varietal information is always at farmers’ fingertips.

Last year, AHDB issued the winter wheat disease ratings for yellow rust and brown rust online ahead of the full RL. This followed reports of higher than expected disease levels during the 2018/19 growing season. However, varietal resistance was in line with recent years and no major changes in resistance ratings occurred.

However, an analysis of wheat samples, gathered during the 2018/19 season, will provide a clearer picture of whether a shift in the UK yellow and brown rust populations has occurred. The UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS) stakeholder event, on 4 March 2020 in Cambridgeshire, will outline the latest situation.

Download the Wheat and barley disease management guide via ahdb.org.uk/cereal-dmg

Access the RL 2020/21 and variety selection tool via ahdb.org.uk/rl

Find out more about the UKCPVS via ahdb.org.uk/ukcpvs