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Bruce Winter

Bruce Winter

Principal Research Scientist (pigeonpea) at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Toowoomba, leading GRDC-funded pigeon pea trials for northern Australian grain growers.

Sep 8, 2026

5:09
While we're talking about that kind of thing, pests and diseases, what have you found they're susceptible to and how are you controlling it?
5:16
So one of the main issues we think with growing pigeon pea will be insects.
5:20
Unfortunately, pigeon pea is very attractive to Heliothus or what we now call Helicoverpa.
5:26
So the moths will fly into the crop just as it starts to flower.
5:30
They will lay their eggs on the flowers and then the developing larvae will gradually eat the flowers and also the developing pods.
5:38
And we anticipate that will be the main insect pest.
5:40
Now, fortunately, we do have insecticides that provide good control and we're anticipating that most of our growers will need to use probably one or two sprays from different insecticides to keep those Heliothus under control.
7:12
Tell me a little bit about the reaction from growers so far and what areas that you see the biggest impact that pigeon feed could make.

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