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More than 60 growers, nursery, seed, agrichemical companies, researchers, consultants and industry representatives, attended the Lettuce Anthracnose Control Workshop held in Werribee on 4 May 2011. This year, many growers in south-eastern Australia have experienced difficulty in controlling Lettuce Anthracnose. The increased demand for year-round supply in extremely wet conditions has led to significant production losses due to the disease.
The workshop was conducted by Applied Horticultural Research as part of a HAL levy funded project which aims to develop a best practice guide to controlling the disease.
Lettuce Anthracnose (shot-hole), can affect all varieties of Lettuce and Endive and is caused by the fungal pathogen Microdochium panattonianum. Optimum conditions for Anthracnose infection are 150C and 8 hours of leaf wetness. Disease development takes 8 to 17 days and the pathogen can survive up to 4 months on crop debris.
A.Prof. Victor Galea, a pioneer of Lettuce Anthracnose research in Australia Current control measures include avoiding irrigation in the evening, ploughing in crop debris and extended crop rotations. Researchers from NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and SA reported on the situation in their States. The workshop also heard about Fungicide options, Lettuce Varieties and the potential for disease resistance. Andrew Gazzola, a lettuce grower from Somerville, travelled 95km in peak hour to attend the workshop. Andrew said this has been a challenging season for lettuce growers due to unusually high rainfall and slightly cooler weather, particularly during the spring months. See Also :
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