Sub-clover root diseases

In 2014 BIGG received a three-year Producer Research Sites grant from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) to investigate the effect of soil borne root diseases on the productivity of regional sub-clover based pastures. Sub-clover is the dominant legume of Barossa-based pasture systems and as root diseases in sub-clover are believed to cause up to 30% production losses, the project is a great opportunity to examine this locally.

Field trials have been conducted from 2014-16 to evaluate management strategies that have the potential to reduce the impact of root diseases on sub-clover productivity. These included fungicides, inoculants and fertilisers.

BIGG has worked closely with MLA’s research partner for the project, The University of Western Australia (UWA), lead by noted plant pathologist, Professor Martin Barbetti.

Background into BIGG’s research and recent learnings from the project can be found in our November 2016 Newsletter and an article published in MLA’s February/March 2017 Feedback Magazine.

BIGG is also a co-author on a scientific paper published in February 2017 by UWA on the extent and severity of soil borne root diseases in southern Australia sub-clover pastures.

A 2-page final ‘summary snapshot’ of the project can be viewed here, while the final project report (November 2017) is here.