A local isolate of ryegrass mosaic potyvirus (RMV) was identified from a pasture in Leongatha, south-east Victoria. The virus was mechanically inoculated to ryegrass and oats but could not be detected by ISEM in inoculated and symptomless wheat, cocksfoot or barley. Symptoms associated with infection varied between a white mosaic and a brown necrosis. The presence or absence of RMV did not significantly affect the total herbage yields of field plots. However, infection with RMV resulted in reductions in dry weight of 5-50% in the ryegrass component of total herbage yields; the reduction in ryegrass was compensated by increased weed growth. The extent of the reductions in ryegrass associated with RMV infection varied with both species and cultivar. Both the host range study and the herbage yields from the field trial showed that the Victorian isolate of RMV differed from isolates reported overseas.

Estimates of ascospore maturity generated by models developed for Venturia pyrina in Victoria, Australia (NV and SV), Oregon, United States (OR), and Italy (IT) or for V. inaequalis in New Hampshire, United States (NH-1) or modified in Norway (NH-2) were compared with observed field ascospore release of V. pyrina from 21 site–year combinations. The models were also compared with ascospore release data from laboratory assays. In the laboratory assays, the forecasts of the NH-1 and NH-2 models provided the best fit to observed spore release. Under field conditions, the lag phases and slope coefficients of all models differed from those of observed release of ascospores. Identifying the precise time of bud break of pear to initiate degree-day accumulation was problematic at both Australian sites. This resulted in a higher deviance between bud break and first released ascospore compared with the sites in Norway and Belgium. Linear regressions of observed release against forecasted maturity generated similarly high concordance correlation coefficients. However, where differences were noted, they most often favored models that included adjustment for dry periods. The NH-2, IT, and NV models using pooled data also provided the most accurate estimates of 95% ascospore depletion, a key event in many disease management programs.

The effects of temperature and wetness duration on the infection of pear leaves (Pyrus communis L.) by Venturia pirina were studied by inoculating plants with ascospores and conidia under controlled conditions and in the field. Under controlled inoculations, minimum wetness durations that lead to leaf infections by ascospores were 27, 15, 13, 11, 10, 9, and 9 h at 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 25°C, respectively. In parallel inoculations with conidia, the minimum wetness durations that lead to leaf infections were similar to ascospores at temperatures between 12°C and 25°C, but at lower temperatures (4, 8, 10°C), conidia infected leaves only after an additional 2 h of leaf wetness. The relationship between minimum wetness times and temperature was best described using an exponential regression. In field experiments, leaf infection on plants inoculated with ascospores and conidia under various naturally occurring wetness and temperature conditions was in close agreement with those under controlled conditions. Disease severity (percent of leaf area infected) increased with increasing leaf wetness duration at all temperatures. The optimum temperature for infection was 20°C. Analysis of variance with orthogonal polynomial contrasts was used to define the relationship of the angular transformation of disease severity to temperature and leaf wetness duration.

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