AT FIRST glance there may be a big difference between the field of landcare management and crop disease but for King Yin Lui, the two are closer than you think.
King Yin, 26, is a research assistant at Curtin University's Centre for Crop Disease Management (CCDM), where she is currently working on the development of a foliar disease guide to help understand the complexities of taking an integrated approach to disease management in broadacre crops.
Growing up in Derby, King Yin's family has a long history in the area, where her grandfather started out in the pearling industry in the 1950s.
Following a move to Perth to finish high school, King Yin began journalism and cultural studies degrees at Curtin University before switching into environmental biology.
"I really enjoyed environmental biology and in particular landcare management, however when it came to choosing a third year research project, I found a project in pulse pathology looking at ascochyta blight in lentils and it has all gone from there."
Following her graduation, King Yin returned to Curtin University to take on a role with the CCDM in its pulse pathology area and then a laboratory role working on ascochyta on field peas.
She is now working for the Improved Farming Systems program which is one of 10 programs within the CCDM.
A key part of her role is the development of a disease guide to help consultants and growers understand the interaction of multiple disease management tactics and how these affect overall disease potential of the paddock, as well as understanding how this affects yield loss due to disease.
She said there was a lot of information available to growers in regards to disease management but it was often "disjointed" and hard to put together to make an informed decision.
"A lot of information is out there but it is very scattered. This model will integrate all the different disciplines to do with integrated disease management (IDM) and put it in one spot so it can be accessible to everyone,"she said.
"It will work like the "fire danger" risk assessment and show what level of risk there is based on the various levers or disease factors,"she said.
"It pinpoints the main factors that you consider for IDM and show how those different factors or levers affect the overall disease potential in any given year, such as crop type, variety, rotation, paddock use history, current disease prevalence and weather conditions.
"I would see it being complementary to other tools like those being developed at the Department for Agriculture (DAFWA), spore maturity models and economic calculators."
The pilot model currently focuses on septoria and yellow leaf spot (YLS) in wheat, but King Yin said long term the model could guide decision making in a wide variety of crops.
"In this case, the model looks at the variety, current stubble situation and short and long-term weather conditions, along with the other levers to determine the risk of disease,"she said.
"Yellow leaf spot has a latent period of six to eight days, while other diseases can take up to a month before the infection becomes visible,"she said.
"However, if YLS is visible high in the canopy at flagleaf during stem elongation, there is a risk that this will impact on yield more than other times in the growing period.
"With other diseases with a longer latent period, if disease is visible on leaves three to four down from the top leaf, then there may be more concern."
King Yin said the pilot had been well received by local agronomists and interstate plant pathologists.
"Advisors recognise there is a lack for disease resources - there are tools for nitrogen and weeds and yield projectors but disease it seen to be a little "mysterious","she said.
"What the guide will do is equip users with enough knowledge to approach more complex tools and make informed decisions.
"For example, if you've grown a particular variety, it is susceptible to a particular disease, but if you have long or varied crop rotations, you may be at lower risk depending on inoculum source and weather conditions."
King Yin said this year disease was top of mind for many growers due to excellent growing conditions and yields expected.
"There's a lot of justified worry but there is also hype because disease is such a "mystery","she said.
"In a year like this year where we are expecting such high yields and disease might impact more, it is really important to control disease in a smart way."
She said the loss of control tactics such as resistant varieties and fungicide actives was a worry for the industry, the long-term cost of poor application practices could prove to be problematic.
"Disease is also a social issue - if your neighbour isn't doing the right thing in regards to IDM, the resistant disease will travel,"she said.
"We can control what we do on a local scale and by taking an integrated approach to managing pest and diseases we can reduce the long-term costs of disease and ensure the longevity of existing control options"
The lack of knowledge around management decisions and agriculture in general was also a concern.
"I get asked "oh you work in ag, they spray lots of herbicides on my food" or "is that fungicide dangerous?","she said.
"People are willing to criticise farming practices but they are the same people who will buy the cheapest food possible.
"They also don't understand that it is not in the farmer's best interest to spray willy-nilly - it costs time and money and they also don't want to see disease resistance increasing."
King Yin said the "social issues" of farming were a keen interest of hers and was interested in looking more into this as part of a pHD or future studies.
"I would really like to look at extending the guide and perhaps doing more research into what drives decision making on farm and what social and environmental impacts that this can have."
