A new rapid test that can identify two of the most damaging diseases in barley before they’re visible, will be launched to growers in March.

The SwiftDetect test, from Microgenetics, has already proved to be invaluable in identifying diseases such as septoria in wheat and the team behind that have now developed new tests to identify net blotch and rhynchosporium in barley.

Net blotch has the potential to cause yield losses of 10-40% if it is not controlled and rhynchosporium, the most damaging disease affecting UK barley, can inflict several infection cycles during a single growing season.

“We decided to focus on these pathogens because they’re a particular concern for the British farming industry – we know they cause the biggest crop yield failures and have the biggest financial impact,” said Dr Rebecca Sanders, principal scientist at Microgenetics.

By identifying the presence of net blotch and rhynchosporium before they’re visible, farmers can act quickly to control either disease. “These diseases have a long latent period when the disease is present but not yet visible,” Dr Sanders added.

“By the time visible signs do appear it is too late to recover the full yield and aggressive fungicides will need to be used. By using this test, farmers are given an early warning that treatment is necessary.

"It allows them to use it as part of their integrated crop management and spray according to what’s actually in the field, rather than a pre-emptive campaign. It saves money, it saves the environment and it prolongs the life of fungicides because, like antibiotics, the more fungicides we use, the more likely it is that pathogens will develop resistance to them.”

It is easy to use: Farmers simply collect 10 leaves from across a barley field for their sample and then post them to the laboratory using prepaid envelopes that can be ordered from the Microgenetics website. The results are sent back quickly by email, usually by the next business day, if not sooner.

“A traffic light warning system will tell a farmer whether the sample was low, medium or high risk," pointed out Dr Charles Grant, a research scientist at Microgenetics. “They will also receive a SwiftDetect score, which is determined by the amount of pathogen identified in the sample.”

“Farmers will get the information they need to inform what formulation they should use and at what level, or whether they need to target specific fields first where disease levels are higher,” said Dr Grant, who added that farmers could also choose to use the tests after spraying to check the effects of pesticides used. It could also help farmers trialling different varieties by revealing levels of disease resistance.

“We’ve had feedback from farmers who have tailored their fungicide programme according to the results and saved themselves thousands of pounds,” Dr Grant adds. ”Other benefits aren’t as quantifiable but are just as important, for instance the quality of the overall yield.

“At the moment, a lot of farmers will spray at specific times of the year, at specific growth stages or following particular weather patterns,” Dr Grant said. “We’re trying to give them an accurate picture of what’s actually going on during the latent phase so they don’t need to guess.”