The NSW sugar industry has been preparing for the arrival of sugar cane smut disease for the past three and a half years. Those preparations will pay off following the recent detection of sugar cane smut disease in a cane crop in the Condong mill area.

Compared to the hotter, drier climate in Qld smut will have less impact in the cooler wetter conditions of the northern rivers. The milder climate in NSW also means that smut will build up in fields more slowly in NSW compared to Qld.

Our climate plus the fact that the NSW industry has made good preparations with variety replacement means that smut is unlikely to have any impact on overall productivity. The NSW sugar industry now has around 60% of the cane area planted with smut resistant and smut tolerant varieties

Rick Beattie manager of agricultural services for the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative said today that smut was first found in the Bundaberg region in June 2006. Since that time it has been found in all Qld cane growing areas and now we have the first finding in NSW. Rick said, “We knew it was coming; it was just a matter of time before it got here.”

Within months of the original smut finding at Bundaberg in 2006, the NSW industry introduced supplies of smut resistant varieties and made them available to all farmers. Breeding for smut resistance has been the top priority of the cane breeding program run by BSES Ltd which is the main provider for research, development and extension for the Australian sugar industry.

BSES Ltd extension officer, Peter McGuire said that in 2006 BSES provided quantities of four smut resistant varieties to transport to NSW. Three of these varieties Q208A, Q200A and KQ228A are now major varieties in Qld with excellent productivity. All the varieties were bred by BSES. Mr McGuire said that overseas’ experience showed that early replacement of smut susceptible varieties is the best way to avoid productivity losses.

Rick Beattie said that the key for farmers to control smut was to plant resistant varieties and importantly plant clean seed At Condong, farmers have a choice of 14 smut resistant or smut tolerant varieties to plant. The BSES plant breeding program has been focussed on smut control since 1997 and BSES now releases new, highly productive, smut resistant varieties every year.

For more information contact:
Rick Beattie (Manager Agric Services, NSWSMC) 0418 162 964 or
Peter McGuire (BSES Limited) 0408 764 742