Blackleg, caused by the fungus Leptosphaeria maculans, is the most serious disease of canola in Australia. A critical component of an effective blackleg genetic resistance improvement effort is industry having access to a reliable, accurate high-throughput disease screening capacity.

This program will support the development of high throughput (faster), cheaper and accurate blackleg phenotyping methods and facilities using standardised techniques, isolates, controls and well characterised testing environments. The establishment of this infrastructure will enable Australian canola breeders to accelerate and expand efforts to deploy new and durable blackleg resistance in canola varieties to Australian growers.