Crop Watch December 2021

Farewell to SARDI senior plant pathologists

Senior plant pathologists Dr Hugh Wallwork and Dr Jenny Davidson are retiring at the end of 2021.

Dr Hugh Wallwork

Hugh has led the cereal pathology laboratory at SARDI since 1995. He came to Adelaide in 1982 to work with Tony Rathjen on take-all in wheat and soon found himself providing advice on management of stripe rust, which first became a problem in 1983.

Over the past 38 years, Hugh has seen the spectrum of diseases that affect cereals change considerably, including crown rot, eyespot, scald and net blotch.

His principal interest has always been trying to find genetic resistance to diseases but chemical control and other forms of disease management have also been very important in his work.

It has been the diversity of the work, particularly interactions with farmers, agronomists and other researchers both in Australia and overseas, that has provided Hugh with so much interest and satisfaction.

Dr Jenny Davidson

Jenny started at the pulse pathology laboratory at SARDI in 1995 and has led this group since 2000.

Over the past 25 years since pulse crops have been established in Australia, Jenny has seen significant advancements in the industry.

Initially, many pulse crops were lost to ascochyta blight and botrytis diseases but the research she has been involved in has allowed breeding programs to produce more resistant varieties and growers to adopt effective disease management strategies.

It has been Jenny’s privilege to be part of this successful new industry in Australian agriculture and see how it continues to expand.

Together, Hugh and Jenny launched Crop Watch in 2003 with renowned rural journalist Jon Lamb managing the email distribution list. The newsletter still regularly informs industry of disease outbreaks, loss of disease resistance in crop varieties and disease management strategies.

From two pairs of capable hands to another

Dr Tara Garrard and Sara Blake will take over the research, diagnostic and extension roles for cereal and pulse pathology, respectively, at SARDI. Both Tara and Sara have extensive experience in crop pathology.

Their combined expertise will ensure that industry continues to be well served in crop protection.

Dr Tara Garrard

Tara joined the SARDI soil biology and diagnostic group in 2016 and in August 2018 moved to the SARDI cereal pathology group.

Among other activities, she has conducted:

• research on barley net form net blotch pathogen population changes and resistance breakdown
• monitoring on the development and movement of fungicide resistance in cereal diseases
• septoria tritici blotch integrated disease management.

Sara Blake

Sara joined the SARDI pulse pathology group in October 2015.

She has conducted research on changing ascochyta pathogen populations and the risk of resistance breakdown in pulse varieties. Sara also provides pathology expertise to the southern node of the faba bean breeding program, amongst other disease screening and surveillance activities.