Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
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Confined paddock feeding and feedlotting of sheep
No full textConfinement feeding (also referred to as lot feeding or feedlotting) is an intensive feeding system in a confined area where all, or the majority of, feed and water is supplied to the contained animals. The department recommends using confinement feeding as part of a whole farm livestock, pasture and erosion management program.
We recommend having a confinement feeding system as an integral part of a whole farm livestock, pasture and erosion management program. Guides and resources that provide more detailed information are listed at the bottom of this fact sheet
Rubber vine and its control
No full textRubber vine, Palay rubbervine, India rubbervine (Cryptostegia grandiflora) is a declared pest in Western Australia (WA). Rubber vine chokes river catchment areas and is highly toxic to livestock
Recreational fishers’ attitudes to fisheries management and compliance
No full textRecreational fisheries policy decisions have social and ecological outcomes that depend on whether regulations are understood and meet expectations, which in turn enhances compliance. This study investigates perceptions of management and compliance among boat-based recreational fishers in Western Australia with consideration of demography (age, residence) and fishing behaviour (avidity, bioregion fished). Most respondents considered themselves to be informed about rules governing their fishing and there was strong support for current input and output controls, including area and seasonal closures and possession and size limits. There was less support for alternative regulations that are not currently in practice, such as annual catch or effort limits, particularly among avid fishers. There was high support for minimising illegal fishing and using penalties to ensure fishers follow regulations. Relative to infrequent participants, avid fishers had greater awareness of prosecutions for illegal fishing and were more supportive of prosecution and suspensions for illegally selling recreationally caught fish. There was near unanimous agreement that prosecution and suspensions were appropriate for obstructing or assaulting a fisheries officer whilst performing their duty. This study demonstrates an approach to understand views on fisheries policy and identify target audiences that may need deeper engagement to understand benefits of management decisions
Fisheries Research Report No. 347: Recreational fishing for Marron in south-west Western Australia from 2000 – 2024: estimates of participation, effort and catch
No full textThe Smooth Marron (Cherax cainii) (‘Marron’) is endemic to freshwater dams and rivers of south-west Western Australia. The Recreational Marron Fishery is managed as a single stock within the South-West Recreational Freshwater Resource and is highly vulnerable to over-exploitation due to the biological characteristics of the species (e.g., low fecundity, localised populations) as well as external environmental (e.g., habitat loss, reduction in rainfall) and human factors (e.g., fishing, land clearing).
Due to this vulnerability, this species has been the focus of research, monitoring and management since the 1970’s. Recreational fishing for Marron was first licensed under the Amateur Fisherman’s licence in 1963, with a fishery-specific licence introduced in 1986. The fishery is currently managed using input controls to restrain effort (e.g., seasonal and spatial closures, gear restrictions and licences) and output controls to restrain catch (e.g., minimum size limits, daily bag limits, possession limits).
The Marron licence database has been used as a sampling frame to select fishers for phone-recall (2000 – 2021) and online-recall (2022 – 2024) surveys. This report provides a time series of annual estimates of participation (number of licensed fishers), fishing effort (days fished) and the retained and released catches (by numbers) of Marron statewide and by waterbody (public dams, rivers) across 25 years of monitoring the recreational fishery.
Participation in the Recreational Marron Fishery (Marron licence holders aged five years or older) in 2024 (8 January – 5 February 2024) 66% or 8,592 fishers (95% CI 8,226 – 8,957). Total fishing effort by licensed fishers for Marron in 2024 was 28,272 days fished (95%CI 26,375 – 30,170); of which 64% or 18,186 (16,538 – 19,833) was in rivers and 36% or 10,087 (8,681 – 11,492) in dams.
The retained catch (numbers) of Marron by licensed fishers in 2024 was 82,435 individuals (95%CI 74,680 – 90,191); of which 67% or 54,825 (48,211 – 61,438) was caught in rivers and 33% or 27,611 (22,394 – 32,828) in dams. The released catch (numbers) of Marron by licensed fishers in 2024 was 102,461 individuals (95%CI 91,244 – 113,678); of which 62% or 63,244 (53,705 – 72,782) was released in rivers and 38% or 39,217 (32,075 – 46,360) in dams. The overall release rate in 2024 was 55%.
Although the retained catch has fluctuated across years, the catch range (defined by the 95% confidence intervals for the retained catch) has been within the acceptable catch range of 50,000 – 100,000 since 2003. Therefore, the Recreational Marron Fishery is currently deemed sustainable.
Ongoing monitoring and management of the Recreational Marron Fishery is required to ensure it continues to be sustainable in an era of changing environmental conditions. A key part of this is ensuring that the annual online-recall surveys continue to provide information at scales appropriate to support management decisions
Deep and continuous root development in ameliorated soil improves water and nutrient uptakes and wheat yield in water-limited conditions
No full textBackground and aims
Despite the widespread co-occurrence of subsoil acidity and compaction, the interaction between these factors and their combined effects on root system development under water-limited conditions is poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate how the removal of soil strength and acidity influenced root development and examine relationships between root system properties and shoot growth under field conditions. Methods
Images of root growth were obtained in situ by using rhizotron facilities to assess the temporal effects of soil improvement through loosening and lime incorporation on wheat root development in the 2018 season. Following this, we examined the relationship between enhanced root systems, water and nutrient uptakes, and overall crop performance. Results
The results indicated that improved soil conditions significantly enhanced planar root length density (pRLD) through the elongation and proliferation of wheat roots in the subsoil. Regressing tree analysis suggested that subsoil strength had a more dominant influence on pRLD compared to soil pH or aluminium — leading to higher water uptake, wheat head density and yield. In addition to the benefit of loosening, the lime treatment improved soil acidity, promoting continuous root growth with root hairs, allowing plants to access previously unavailable nutrients and improve yield further. This highlights the critical role of managing multiple soil constraints for optimising crop productivity. Conclusions
In this study, the integration of root images and soil properties data provided a deeper understanding of root-soil interactions which could be useful for developing sustainable soil management practices to optimise crop productivity under challenging conditions
Control the green bridge for pest and disease management
No full textIn Western Australia\u27s climate, the survival of pests and diseases over summer is often critical in determining outbreaks of pest and disease epidemics in broadacre crops during the subsequent cropping season
Factors affecting herbicide performance
No full textHerbicide performance can vary greatly depending on factors including compatibility of herbicides, water quality, sprayer decontamination, and controlling stressed weeds. This page outlines these issues and demonstrates how to assess herbicide performance to achieve the best from your herbicides
Sclerotinia stem rot and its management in canola
No full textSclerotinia stem rot, caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a disease of canola that can cause significant yield losses exceeding 20% under conducive conditions. This disease occurs in all areas of the WA grainbelt.
Sclerotinia stem rot is one of the most variable and unpredictable diseases of canola, with incidence of infection varying greatly between paddocks and between years. Yield losses can be severe in years of higher moisture, cool conditions, and high humidity, which favour disease development.
This factsheet details the symptoms, disease risk and spread, yield and quality losses, and integrated disease management tactics for sclerotinia stem rot in canola
Yellow spot and septoria nodorum blotch and their management in wheat
No full textLeaf spot diseases affecting wheat in Western Australia (WA) are yellow spot (Pyrenophora tritici-repentis), septoria nodorum blotch (Parastagonospora nodorum), and septoria tritici blotch (Zymoseptoria tritici). They are caused by 3 different fungal pathogens but the disease symptoms and biologies are similar.
Impact from leaf spot diseases vary greatly from season to season and between locations. They are a problem in continuous wheat crops in stubble retention (no-till) farming systems. For the most effective control, an integrated disease management (IDM) approach is required.
This page outlines the symptoms, diseases spread and risk factors, yield and quality losses, and management options for the leaf spot diseases affecting wheat
Wheat streak mosaic virus and wheat curl mite and their management
No full textWheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) is a seed and mite-borne virus that infects wheat, causing severe leaf symptoms and reduced yields. The symptoms and damage are more severe in wheat than other hosts, in which infection is symptomless.
Wheat streak mosaic virus can cause crop failure when widespread infection occurs in seedling wheat, particularly when a heavily WSMV-infected green bridge is not controlled before sowing an early crop, and warm temperatures favour mites.
Wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella) is the only known vector of WSMV. It can transmit the virus in its nymph and adult stages