In this project, a range of dehydrated garlic samples from several USA companies were imported into Australia and analysed for concentration of germination stimulants.

The use of dehydrated garlic powder from the US, or potentially elsewhere, may be an economically feasible way to reduce disease levels. The main difficulty will be establishing the rate needed which will depends upon analysis of the product. It was observed that the levels of stimulants can change in storage, which could be a problem for any carry over stocks as the shelf life could potentially be limited to only one or two seasons, after which time the volumes needed may be too costly. In the absence of a dehydrated garlic industry in Australia it is unlikely that dehydrated garlic products will be used for application to commercial fields as a means of disease control. The cost and risk of importing product with low analysis is likely to impede industry adoption of this approach.

It was also determined in this project that post-harvest treatment of new disease patches should not be treated with germination stimulants, as this is unlikely to effectively reduce disease levels owing to a natural dormancy period that occurs in the newly formed spore-like structures.