Brown rot is the most economically damaging disease of summerfruit and canning peaches in Australia, causing an average annual loss of $19 million despite an annual expenditure of about $25 million on disease control.
The disease also threatens market access, both as a quarantine barrier and through associated chemical residue risks.
This project developed and validated a weather-based infection risk model to support more precise fungicide timing, suitable for individual farm use. Eleven field sites were established in the Murray and Goulburn Valleys. Weather stations located at each orchard provided site specific data for estimating infection periods (IP) conducive to infection using the model and growers were notified by SMS within 12 hrs of infection conditions occurring. Disease was assessed after harvest to evaluate the success of spraying by the growers and most orchards achieved continuous improvement in rot control by following IP forecasting.
Brown Rot Report September 2011 (Note: this document does not meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines)