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Category: Communication

Description: Cotton is susceptible to many yield-limiting diseases. To understand the importance and impact of diseases present, disease surveys are conducted early and late season across all cotton growing regions to monitor the distribution and incidence of diseases. The surveys also maintain the surveillance for exotic pathogens. Surveys have been conducted in Queensland for 20 consecutive years. Data provided by annual surveys have shown the relative importance of each of the diseases in a region and that specific diseases continue to be a challenge to manage, resulting in significant yield losses. In addition to known endemic diseases we have identified several diseases of cotton for the first time, such as the defoliating pathotype of Verticillium dahliae, a pathogenic yeast Eremothecium coryli (originally Nematospora coryli) that causes seed and boll rot, the plant parasitic nematode Rotylenchulus reniformis, various leaf spot fungi, and a novel species of Eutypella causing a new wilt disease. Although surveillance has provided long term data on the prevalence of diseases, it is the relationships that have been developed over time with growers, agronomists and REOs that have greatly assisted in these new detections. This highlights how important it is for pathologists to have such a network to help keep in touch with what is happening in the field throughout the whole season.