Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA): Research LibraryNot a member yet
10920 research outputs found
Sort by
Agronomic practices to enhance weed management
No full textSome agronomic practices, such as crop choice and sequence and improving crop competition and pasture competition, can improve crop environment and growth, and the crop\u27s ability to compete with weeds
Armyworms and their management in cereal crops
No full textArmyworms are pests of cereals crops. They are frequently found along the south coast of Western Australia and occasionally in other grainbelt locations.
When barley crops are maturing in spring, large armyworm caterpillars climb plants and can chew through the stems, causing the heads to fall to the ground. Damage to wheat and oat crops occurs less frequently and is usually minor compared to damage in barley. Armyworms are seldom a serious problem in pastures
Barley leaf diseases and their management
No full textBarley leaf diseases such as scald, net blotches (net form and spot form), powdery mildew, ramularia leaf spot, leaf rust, and barley yellow dwarf virus, and cereal yellow dwarf virus can reduce yield and grain quality. Correct identification is important in disease management, as diseases differ in their best management strategies
Herbicide application
No full textHerbicides can be applied by a variety of means, including boom sprayers, aerial spraying, misters, blanket wipers, rope wick applicators, weed seekers and back-pack sprayers. This fact sheet reviews the different methods, including nozzles and calibration of equipment, used to apply herbicides
Stem rust and its management in wheat
No full textStem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) is a foliar disease that can significantly reduce wheat yields if it occurs in early spring and is not controlled. Risk factors, management strategies (including variety choices and foliar fungicides), and yield loss from different varieties are discussed here.
In Western Australia, stem rust typically causes losses of 10 to 50% in wheat, but this can increase to 90% when it occurs in early spring and is not controlled.
Stem rust affects wheat and triticale, but barley can also be a host during summer months.Stem rust produces large, reddish-brown spore masses on both sides of the leaf, on leaf sheaths, stems, and outside of heads. The pustules have tattered edges.
Stem rust requires living plants on which to grow and reproduce. To infect crops during the season, it must survive summer by infecting volunteer cereals or grass hosts, known as the ‘green bridge’.
Other rusts that infect wheat in WA are stripe rust and leaf rust, but these do not occur on stems. For more information on these rusts, see the page, Managing stripe rust and leaf rust in wheat in Western Australia
Assess weed population density
No full textThe most accurate way to estimate the weed population of a paddock is to count the number of plants in an area of known size at numerous locations.
Use a quadrant, which may be square or circular, to carry out weed plant counts. The number and location of counts needed to estimate the weed population will vary depending on the distribution pattern
Stop crop weed seed set
No full textNumerous options can be used to prevent weed seed set, which provides an opportunity to control weeds in the pasture, late fallow, late stubble, and in-crop phases for the next season
Fisheries research report no. 346: West coast demersal scalefish resource synopsis 2024
No full textThe West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (WCDSR) comprises over 100 species that inhabit inshore (20-250 m deep) and offshore ( \u3e 250 m deep) waters of the West Coast Bioregion (WCB; north of Kalbarri to east of Augusta).
The WCB is predominantly a temperate oceanic zone with these waters influenced by the Leeuwin Current that transports warm, low-nutrient water southward along the western edge of the continental shelf.
To monitor and assess the WCDSR, indicator species have been selected using a risk-based approach that considers their inherent vulnerability to fishing, level of targeting and catch taken by fishers, and the amount of information needed to manage stocks.
The indicator species for inshore waters include Snapper, WA dhufish and, for the Mid-West area only, Baldchin groper, while indicators for offshore waters include Hapuku, Bass groper and Blue-eye trevalla
On the Line and Online: Higher Non-Response to Web-Based Surveys Over-Represents Avid Recreational Fishers Compared With Telephone Surveys
No full textRecreational fishing surveys have an important role in providing data to inform fisheries management. The selection of a contact method is an important and often challenging consideration that influences the potential for non-sampling errors that can result in unrepresentative data and biased estimates. Telephones are used for many off-site recreational fishing surveys, but widespread use of digital technology suggests that online surveys could be a viable alternative. We compared phone surveys with alternative online surveys using probability sampling from a licence database. Response rates were lower for online surveys (13%–26%) than phone surveys (97%–98%). The proportion of respondents who reported marine fishing in the previous 12 months did not differ between survey methods (98% for both survey modes), but the proportion of avid fishers was higher for online surveys (41%–54%) than phone surveys (37%–40%). These differences reflect higher respondent burden for online surveys where data are self-administered and respondents are more likely to opt-out. Higher non-response and over-representation of avid fishers from online surveys may compromise data reliability. We recommend comparative studies to quantify and correct for biases when evaluating alternative survey modes for new or ongoing surveys
All insect, weed and plant disease occurences recorded in the PestFacts WA database in 2024 from all sources. This includes data from the project\u27s surveillance activities.
No full textThe collection contains all weeds, insect and disease reports recorded in the PestFacts database during 2024 from all sources