The secret life of crown rot: what happens after harvest?

Abstract

Take home messages
A preliminary survey of cereal stubble from 2017 showed that in the northern region (NSW and Qld) the crown rot fungus is commonly present from the crown up to 18 cm, with detection up to 33 cm within tillers at harvest.
However, moist conditions can promote further growth of the crown rot fungus post-harvest in inoculated cereal stubble (increasing by almost 1 cm up from the crown per day at 100% humidity).
Inoculum levels in post-harvest stubble are not static and may fluctuate as different weather patterns are experienced.
Planting different bread wheat, durum wheat and barley varieties may not be useful for supressing inoculum growth in stubble after harvest.
Reducing cereal stubble height may limit inoculum build-up in crown rot affected paddocks by restricting the capacity for further fungal growth post-harvest. This could also help reduce dispersal of infected residues when harvesting shorter break crops such as chickpea, but field validation of this management option is required.