Zymoseptoria tritici

A time capsule sealed 50 years ago at South Australia's then Roseworthy Agricultural College is about to provide a unique insight into how cereal crop diseases mutate.

The capsule holds the first samples of the then-emerging Septoria tritici blotch, a now common wheat disease.

Plant pathologist Dr Tara Gerrard is from the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

She told Country Today's Gabrielle Hodson it's a rare chance to compare historical and modern isolates.