Cereal and pulse disease guides now available

19 May 2026

Agriculture Victoria’s 2026 cereal and pulse disease guides are now available to help grain growers make informed decisions around disease management this season.

The annual guides, produced with support from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), provide updated disease ratings and advice on reducing disease risk for the 2026 season.

Agriculture Victoria Plant Pathology Research Leader Dr Joshua Fanning said the guides detail how resistant or susceptible new and commonly grown grains such as wheat, barley, oats, lentils, faba bean and chickpea are to a range of crop diseases.

‘Checking the latest disease ratings is a crucial step for pulse and cereal growers planning for this season, especially as ratings can change from year to year,’ Dr Fanning said.

‘Disease ratings are the first and most important step in managing disease, so it’s important to understand the latest resistance ratings of varieties.’

Dr Fanning said that, while below-average rainfall last year reduced the potential for disease carryover in both cereal and pulse crops, growers still need to be proactive with disease management in 2026.

‘There’s a risk of disease carryover in pulses from infected seed and stubble of crops that had disease during 2025, particularly the areas with ascochyta blight,’ he said.

’Growing more resistant varieties is a major way to reduce disease pressure and reliance on fungicides.’

Dr Fanning said crops that had been sown early with susceptible varieties would also need to be monitored closely.

‘Early sowing and plant establishment increases disease risk, and disease is already being reported in early sown crops in the Mallee,’ he said.

‘Monitoring is critical to ensure timely application of fungicides should disease develop.

‘This is especially important for diseases like stripe rust and Septoria tritici blotch in wheat, net blotches and scald in barley, and ascochyta blight and botrytis in pulses, where timely decisions can prevent yield loss.’

The 2026 Cereal Disease Guide is available at agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/plant-diseases/grain-pulses-and-cereal-diseases/cereal-disease-guide

The 2026 Pulse Disease Guide is available at agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/plant-diseases/grain-pulses-and-cereal-diseases/pulse-disease-guide

Media contact: media@deeca.vic.gov.au