Grains pests

• Hosts are wheat, durum and triticale
• Parts of seeds are blackened and crush relatively easily
• Infected grain has a distinct fishy smell
• If it became established in Australia, access to over 45 international markets would be restricted and grain price would be significantly reduced

Fact sheet

• Adults are small (2-3 mm long) and do not fly
• Spread in infested grain
• Larvae are hairy and can survive for over a year without food
• Phosphine fumigation gives poor control
• If established, it would affect market access

Fact sheet

• Adults are small (2-4 mm long) and look like mosquitos
• Pupae have a ‘flaxseed’ appearance
• Attack leaves, stems and heads of cereals
• Most chemical controls are not effective
• Cereal crop losses up to 40% could occur

Fact sheet

• Brown bug with wide oval-shaped body (12 mm long) with a wide triangular head
• Attacks most cereal crops
• Colonies can be seen on cereal heads in spring
• Injects enzymes into the plant as it feeds which can result in grain damage and abortion

Fact sheet

• Would infect barley in all Australian growing regions
• Approximately 80% of Australia’s barley varieties would be susceptible
• Yellow stripes of fungal spores produced between veins of leaves
• Can be spread by wind and rain, or on clothing, machinery and tools
• Any stripe rust on barley should be reported

Fact sheet

• Pathotype identified in Uganda in 1999 that has overcome several stem rust resistance genes
• Many Australian wheat varieties will be susceptible
• Elliptical blisters produced on stems, which break open to reveal a mass of rust coloured spores
• Stem rust on known resistant varieties should be reported

Fact sheet

• Considered most damaging pathogen of soybean worldwide.
• Affects the roots, resulting in patchy growth, poor tillering and stunting of plants.
• Spreads rapidly. Female nematodes contain eggs that remain viable for up to 10 years without a host.

Fact sheet

Additional high priority pests for Western Australia

The following pests are established in other parts of Australia, but not present in Western Australia.

• Not present in WA
• Oat race hosts are oat, faba bean, and wild oat. Also recorded on field pea, canola, lentil and chickpea seedlings
• Symptoms include poor emergence and establishment, stunting and distortion of plants, swollen stem bases, premature plant death, lodging, fewer seed heads
• Spread by infested hay, straw and other plant material, in soil by movement of machinery and as a contaminant of seed

Fact sheet

• The lentil strain of this pathogen has not been recorded in WA
• Symptoms include white to greyish lesions on stems, branches and petioles
• Lesions may contain small black fruiting bodies and turn brown as plants mature
• Low rate of seed transmission
• Spread by movement in lentil trash and infected dust from harvesting lentils

Fact sheet

• Recorded in eastern Australia and Northern Territory but not WA
• Occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas
• Attacks grain and forage sorghum, Johnson and Columbus grasses
• Transport of grain containing larvae into WA is restricted

• Has been found in Queensland where it attacks legume crops
• A threat to lupin and pulse crops in WA
• Yield losses due to infestation can be high
• Damaged seed is down-graded and cannot be used for seed
• Once inside legume pods, control is very difficult

• A common aphid in cereals in south-eastern states of Australia
• Large green aphids that may have a dark green stripe down the middle of the back
• Tend to colonise leaves higher on the plant
• Feeding damage can occur on stem, leaves and heads in tillering and later stages of crop growth
• Can spread barley yellow dwarf virus