High-tech automated bug catchers will spend 12 weeks on a farm at Horsham as part of a trial program to prevent pests and pathogens from destroying crops.
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The latest iMapPESTS mobile surveillance sentinels will monitor pests and diseases that wreak havoc on grain and pulse farms.
Aphids are a high-priority focus for the project, which will take place of Agriculture Victoria's SmartFarm in partnership with AUSVEG, SARDI and Hort Innovation.
Bridgewater-based Wheelhouse Group agronomist Andrew Bissett welcomed the trial and said aphid traps would work well in collaboration with pre-existing traps for species like Heliothis or budworms.
"We monitor where the (Heliothis) flights are coming in from and whether they could be impacting crops locally (using traps)," Mr Bissett said.
"Up until now, we probably haven't had that with aphids, so if that's starting to be looked at it will work hand-in-hand with that monitoring."
Mr Bissett said aphids could have a significant impact on crop quality but agronomists try to prioritise non-chemical treatments where possible in managing the pest.
He said this reduced-chemical management then allowed "good bugs" to survive so agronomists could take on any new aphid or other pest arrivals.
At worst, the aphids can bring in new viruses that infect plants and while the crop will not fail completely, the impact is visible.
"They won't fail altogether, but you'll see the symptoms of the virus," Mr Bissett said.
"So the Russian wheat aphid will put a sort of white yellow stripes on a cereal crop.
"If you get green peach aphid in canola, you'll see leaves get a little bit purple-red and you'll generally still get a crop but that crop will suffer from ill thrift and it just doesn't reach its full potential.
"So it's pretty important to identify which aphid you've got and control it the right way."
An AUSVEG spokesperson said aphids were also a major pest for vegetables and were the most common group of virus carriers.
Aphids are sap-sucking insects that produce honeydew, encourage sooty mould growth and reduce a plant's growth. The pesky insect is generally found on the underside of leaves while they also frequently attack soft growing tips of plants.
Agriculture Victoria senior research scientist Dr Piotr Trebicki said the sentinels set up at the Horsham farm were essentially advanced trapping devices - and they can monitor and trap insect pests as well as airborne spores.
"The sentinels will collect bugs and we will then take those samples for identification," Dr Trebicki said.
"Due to the volume and variety of bugs caught, identifying them all quickly can be a hard task, but we have developed new technology to streamline this process.
"The technique works in a similar way to your typical supermarket barcode, but instead of linking each product to a price, it links each individual insect to its DNA sequence."
Dr Trebicki said Agriculture Victoria's nation-leading AgriBio technology enabled scientists to match a pest using its DNA sequence to compare against a library of more than 200,000 sequences.
The scientists have also developed a 'non-destructive' DNA extraction process which means they can keep the insect intact while collecting the genetic information.
"This is extremely important in the case of pest insects," Dr Trebicki said.
"It allows us to retain insect specimens which can be used for secondary confirmation, through visual examination, if required, for example in the case where an unexpected species such as a suspect exotic is detected.
"We will also be documenting the diversity of insects around this monitoring site, focusing on the presence of beneficial insects, to learn more about the biodiversity of insect populations in the region."
Specific aphids to be targeted include the green peach, Russian wheat, oat, corn and rose-grain varieties, while the presence of fungal pathogens like blackleg of canola, Septoria tritici blotch, yellow leaf spot, chocolate spot of fava bean, Botrytis grey mould and Sclerotinia white rot will be particularly monitored to prevent negative impacts on farmers and their crop.
For more information on the iMapPESTS project visit imappests.com.au
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