Output Group 2—Varieties
The Varieties output group invests in gene discovery, functional genomics, grain quality research, plant pathology (where directly related to breeding), breeding technologies, genetic resources, germplasm enhancement, plant breeding, and crop variety testing across many of the 25 crops in the GRDC’s R&D portfolio.
The output group supports crop improvement for growing domestic as well as export markets, with the aim of raising the overall value of the Australian grains industry. This involves developing new varieties with enhanced yields as well as quality attributes that add value and meet market demands, and includes collaborating with the grains industry to clarify consumer requirements.
Varieties also supports the search for new sources of disease resistance to incorporate into crops, as well as research to improve the understanding of the processes involved in resistance breakdown. It also invests to facilitate an industry-wide approach to improving data collection, for industry-good purposes and to increase the efficiency of end point royalty (EPR) collection.
Table 15 summarises the achievements of the Varieties output group against its performance indicators for 2010–11 and its objectives and strategies for 2007–12. The following sections describe some of the results of the output group’s investments during the year.
Wheat
Australian Grain Technologies
Australian Grain Technologies Pty Ltd (AGT) was founded in 2002. It is owned by the University of Adelaide, the South Australian Research and Development Institute, Vilmorin & Cie (a subsidiary of Groupe Limagrain), and the GRDC.
AGT has a national wheat-breeding strategy, with breeding nodes in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. The company has an integrated seed production and distribution capability through which it commercialises proprietary and licensed varieties of wheat, durum, triticale and peas.
In 2010–11, AGT released four new wheat varieties:
- one conventional variety—Estoc
- three herbicide-tolerant varieties—Justica CL Plus, Kord CL Plus and Sabel CL Plus. These varieties carry two genes for resistance to the imidazolinone herbicides used in the Clearfield® production system, and are the first wheat varieties of their kind to be released in Australia.
InterGrain
InterGrain Pty Ltd was founded in 2007 by the Western Australian Government and the GRDC. Initially set up as a wheat-breeding company, InterGrain began breeding barley in 2010 after acquiring DAFWA’s barley-breeding program. In 2010–11, the company had five wheat and two barley breeders developing varieties for New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
In 2010–11, Monsanto purchased a 19.9 percent share in InterGrain. The involvement of Monsanto is based on a collaboration agreement which gives InterGrain access to new germplasm and high-throughput molecular marker technologies and, in the long term, to biotechnology traits.
During 2010–11 InterGrain released two new soft wheat varieties: Kunjin and Wedin.
HRZ Wheats
HRZ Wheats Pty Ltd was established in 2003 as the commercial arm of a CSIRO breeding program specialising in milling wheat varieties for the high-rainfall zone. Its current shareholders are CSIRO, New Zealand’s Institute for Plant and Food Research, Landmark Operations Ltd, and the GRDC. The company targets milling-type wheat varieties for the high-rainfall zones in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Although there were no new varieties released in 2010–11, new and promising material is coming through the HRZ Wheat variety development pipeline.
Wheat variety classification
Following the deregulation of wheat marketing in 2008, the GRDC (on request from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) put in place interim arrangements to guarantee the continuation of the wheat variety classification system previously undertaken by AWB International.
Following extensive industry consultations by the interim Wheat Classification Council during 2009–10, an industry proposal emerged which called for a standalone, independent organisation to host future wheat classification. The GRDC and Grain Trade Australia partnered to implement the proposal. In December 2010, a not-for-profit company, Wheat Quality Australia Limited (WQA), was established to manage the wheat variety classification system.
Under WQA, new wheat varieties are assessed for their inherent grain quality characteristics and allocated to groups or classes which support specific processing and end-product quality requirements set by export and domestic markets. WQA is not concerned with grain receival standards, which remain the responsibility of Grain Trade Australia.
Barley
The formation of Barley Breeding Australia (BBA) in 2006 consolidated six local breeding programs into three breeding nodes, one in each GRDC region, to enhance collaboration, germplasm exchange and efficient use of resources. BBA has been largely successful; during its five-year term the BBA parties have registered seven named barley varieties for plant breeder’s rights.
However, since the inception of BBA the industry has seen significant changes, including the deregulation of grain marketing, global consolidation of malting and brewing supply chains, entry into Australia of barley varieties from private programs overseas, and increasing pressure on investment priorities for government and industry stakeholders.
In 2009–10, the BBA Advisory Board accepted the recommendations of a review which found that barley breeding in Australia should adopt a more commercial, market-based approach, to become self-funded through EPR income in the medium to long term. The review recognised that nodes might employ different business models and require different lead times to achieve sustainability. The BBA partners supported the review recommendation and resolved not to extend BBA beyond the end of its term in June 2011.
As a result the BBA parties wound up the business of Barley Breeding Australia during 2010–11. The parties have committed to continue to support barley breeding and the barley industry in accordance with the National Grains RD&E Strategy.
The PBA Chickpea Release Advisory Group meeting at the GRDC. (From left) Col Douglas (DEEDI), Larn McMurray (SARDI), Jon Thelander (Seednet), Gordon Cumming (Pulse Australia), Brondwen MacLean (GRDC), Russ Martin (NSW DPI), Kristy Hobson (NSW DPI), Simon Crane (Seednet), Ted Knights (NSW DPI). Photo: GRDC
Pulses
Pulse Breeding Australia
Established in 2006 as an unincorporated joint venture, Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) enables five temperate pulse breeding programs (chickpeas, lentils, field peas, faba beans and lupins) to work together to deliver improved varieties to growers faster.
In 2010 the GRDC commissioned a review of the business structure and processes of PBA. The review found that the establishment of PBA had been a considerable improvement on the previously fragmented, costly and competitive breeding programs. There is now a high degree of rationalisation, focused alignment, reduced duplication and fragmentation, and much greater interagency communication and collaboration.
However, the review also found that, despite significant achievements, the aggregate position of pulse cropping has not improved. Pulses are still seen by many growers as being unreliable and difficult to grow, although there is a trend towards growers specialising in growing pulses in the agroecological areas best suited to existing varieties. The considerable challenges that are still to be addressed include obstacles to accessing new technologies and the inflexibility and inherently high overhead costs of research partners.
Despite the challenges, the GRDC has been successfully working with PBA research partners to deliver better pulse varieties to growers. Four of the five breeding programs have released varieties with significantly improved characteristics, particularly in the areas of increased disease resistance and quality. Nine PBA varieties have been released since PBA’s commencement, four of these in 2010–11, and a further three will be released in 2011–12.
The GRDC has also invested in a program of capacity building for PBA. Two PBA researchers are undertaking part-time postgraduate studies on topics of direct relevance to their breeding programs and a further three students have been identified to commence studies through PBA.
Peanuts
In the past few years, the Peanut Company of Australia (PCA) has reported a number of peanut lots with earthy or musty flavours, grown in certain regions of north Queensland. This is a major concern for the industry, as processed product has been returned from international and domestic customers.
Investigations have revealed that one of the causal components may be 2‑methylisoborneol (2-MIB). The compounds 2-MIB and geosmin are common organic volatile chemicals with a musty or earthy odour and flavour.
In 2010, the GRDC, along with PCA, the University of New South Wales and the University of the Sunshine Coast, commenced a project to investigate off-flavour contamination in peanuts. The project is the first in the world to study the incidence and causes of this problem. It has three major components:
- analytical studies
- biological and ecological studies of organisms that produce 2-MIB and geosmin
- extension of the research findings to growers and industry.
The project is training two postgraduate students, providing expertise in off-flavour contamination and related analysis, biology and management that may later be extended to research in other areas of the Australian grains industry.
In 2010–11, accurate, rapid and low-cost analytical and sampling procedures were developed. An improved understanding of the ecology and biology of the causal organisms was achieved, including the findings that 2-MIB volatiles originating from a ‘hotspot’ within a bulk storage container could contaminate surrounding product without direct physical contact.
New releases
Five new pulse varieties were released in 2010–11:
- PBA Blitz is a high-yielding medium-sized red lentil that is slightly rounder and significantly larger than the current main variety, Nugget. Although suited to all current lentil areas, PBA Blitz is particularly suited to shorter season areas where its combination of early to mid season flowering, early maturity, high yield and good disease resistance will improve lentil reliability and increase production.
- PBA Jumbo is a high-yielding, large-seeded red lentil. It is suited to most current lentil growing areas and has consistently yielded around 15 percent more than the current standard variety, Aldinga. It also has excellent milling quality.
- PBA Oura and PBA Percy are being released concurrently to provide growers with superior field pea options in regions prone to bacterial blight. Both varieties produce Australian dun type grain suitable for human consumption export or stock-feed markets; have high yield potential; are broadly adapted; perform relatively well in short growing seasons and low-rainfall climates; and have good levels of resistance to bacterial blight. These varieties provide growers with the option of growing either an erect semi-dwarf type (PBA Oura) or a conventional type (PBA Percy) to suit on-farm practices.
- Tingoora is a high-oleic, ultra-early maturing peanut variety, specifically developed to assist dryland peanut growers to better manage climate variability. Because of its very early maturity (105–110 days) it can avoid end-of-season drought and related aflatoxin risk. It has high kernel yield potential in both low-yielding and high-yielding environments and therefore offers cropping system flexibility, including early and late planting options in irrigated and dryland systems.
The Phenomobile developed by CSIRO and equipped with multispectral cameras and other apparatus to capture a wealth of physiological data in experimental plots at the managed environment facilities. Photo: GRDC
Canola
Blackleg is the most serious disease of canola in Australia. Before sowing, canola growers require information on the blackleg resistance of each cultivar to determine which ones will be appropriate for their regions and management systems. This information is provided through blackleg ratings, which are developed by screening National Variety Trials lines, commercial cultivars and advanced seed company lines in disease nurseries in all canola-growing states.
The GRDC, with industry partners, invests in a screening system that ensures that blackleg ratings are available to growers by March, in time for each year’s planting decision. The information is disseminated to all Australian canola growers. The system is managed by a review committee and is quality assured.
In 2010–11, extra sites and years were included in the ratings analysis—the 2010 analysis used seven years of data, whereas previously only three years of data was used. In addition, data from a further eight disease nurseries was received from private breeding companies.
Advanced lines from private canola-breeding companies were also screened across four different stubble types, to identify stable blackleg resistance and collect data relevant to blackleg management. This information helps to determine which cultivars get commercialised for which regions and whether seed-coated fungicides are used.
Triticale
The GRDC investment in the National Triticale Improvement Program brings together the breeding programs at AGT and the University of Sydney to develop triticale varieties for grain-only or dual-purpose (grazing and grain) use. This arrangement leads to greater efficiency through enhanced collaboration, germplasm exchange, and resources sharing. During 2010–11 the AGT component of the program released Chopper, a new spring-type triticale variety for grain use only.
Rain-out shelters at the Merredin (WA) managed environment facility. Photo: GRDC
Pre-breeding in winter cereals
Managed environment facilities
Water-use efficiency is a major factor in determining the yield of crops experiencing drought or water stress. Although a number of traits—such as alternative dwarfing genes, high transpiration efficiency or reduced tillering—have been demonstrated to improve water-use efficiency, many of those traits have yet to be incorporated into variety releases. This is partly because of the limited capacity of breeding programs to screen for certain traits, but also because of the inability to validate the traits in realistic field environments. Reliable screening for performance under water-limited conditions has been a major challenge.
Managed environment facilities, which permit selection under controlled stress in realistic environments, are becoming increasingly important in both private and public research organisations. In such facilities, water availability can be controlled, reducing the effects of annual changes in water availability and increasing confidence in line performance under water limitation. The facilities also give pre-breeding and breeding groups the opportunity to meaningfully compare line performance, testing lines side by side under the same controlled conditions.
Together with its research partners, the GRDC has established three managed environment facilities, at Merredin in Western Australia, Yanco in southern New South Wales and Narrabri in northern New South Wales. The availability of irrigation and rain-out shelters at the facilities allows breeders to accurately generate water stress patterns typical of selected growing regions across the wheat belt. Data quality is enhanced by benchmarking activities across the three sites, based on the most recent physiological and genetic tools available, including remote sensing and web-accessible data capture and processing modules.
Six one-year projects were conducted in 2010–11; apart from generating a wealth of useful data, they served to fine-tune the facilities in their establishment phase. Eight GRDC-funded three-year projects will start in the 2011–12 season.
Grain functionality
Even more than grain attributes at receival, the intrinsic functionality characteristics of grain make the difference in achieving premium prices and customer preference.
The ability to identify individual subunits of glutenins with high and low molecular weight is a key element in selecting early for desirable functionality characteristics. ‘Glutenin’ describes a large family of highly similar proteins that determine not only grain hardness but also dough-making and baking properties. Minimal differences between members of the glutenin family have significant effects on those properties.
A GRDC-supported project conducted by Murdoch University produced a valuable tool, in the form of molecular markers, to enable breeders to identify those small differences in glutenins at an early stage in the breeding process. The project also developed a mass spectrometry–based methodology that can discriminate between multiple glutenin gene variants (alleles), which can be provided as a service to breeders.
Gene discovery and new technologies
Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics
With GRDC support, the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics has been researching the identification of genes controlling drought tolerance of wheat in Mediterranean-type production environments (which occur in parts of South Australia and Western Australia). Wheat production in these environments is dependent upon rainfall during the growing season. The availability of water is cyclic, with a succession of rainfall and drought periods from flowering to grain-filling stages.
Working with elite wheat germplasm, the centre employed a multidisciplinary approach to determine the genetic and molecular bases of drought tolerance. Transcriptomics, metabolomics and proteomics technologies were applied to investigate plant cellular responses to cyclic drought. The resulting information was combined with comprehensive field evaluation data to identify regions of the wheat genome (quantitative trait loci or QTL) associated with yield under drought stress, and to target the genes potentially responsible for drought tolerance.
During 2010–11, the centre made a significant breakthrough, identifying a candidate gene underlying one of four target wheat QTL controlling yield and its components under drought stress. The candidate gene has been identified for theQTL-6A, controlling grain sizeand flag leaf width, and is the wheat version of a gene thatcontrols grain weight andyield in rice. Importantly, a survey of wheat-breeding program lines has revealed that this gene is consistently associated with high yields in the field. Identification of the gene could result in a robust tool for the selection of drought-tolerant breeding lines.
International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium
Bioplatforms Australia Limited (BPA) provides services and scientific infrastructure in the specialist fields of genomics, metabolomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. As well as Australian Government investment, BPA is supported by investments from state governments, research institutes and commercial entities. In 2010–11, BPA and the GRDC formed a new wheat genomics investment partnership.
The partnership funds a joint project between Murdoch University and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics that will define the structure of wheat chromosome 7A, one of the 21 wheat chromosomes. Project outputs will represent the Australian contribution to the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), an international group of plant scientists, breeders and growers dedicated to sequencing the wheat genome to accelerate wheat improvement. As well as accelerating the delivery of the complete wheat genome sequence, the project will benefit Australian researchers by providing early access to information from other IWGSC groups.
The project aims to:
- produce new molecular markers to validate the association of genes encoding components of yield to demonstrable improvements in yield, for a range of Australian environments
- identify new genes that can be targeted for breeding, including wheat quality genes and genes for yield under water limitation
- engage with the IWGSC to target any chromosomal region of the wheat genome that is of interest to Australian agriculture
- renew interest in university-based study of wheat, attracting funds and student talent into the area, to build future capacity for the grains industry.
National Variety Trials
National Variety Trials (NVT) is a national program of comparative crop variety testing that was established to provide the Australian grains industry with access to robust independent results on the performance of recently released grain varieties. All winter cereals, pulse and canola breeding programs participate in the NVT program, which is funded by the GRDC and managed by Australian Crop Accreditation Systems Ltd.
In 2010, the NVT program conducted 632 trials at more than 260 locations across Australia. The 2010 season was a very challenging one, with severe drought conditions in Western Australia and above-average rainfall, leading to widespread flooding, in much of the eastern cropping area of Australia. A total of 59 trials had to be abandoned as a result of seasonal conditions, and a further five did not meet the program’s stringent data quality requirements and thus were not published. The results of the remaining 568 trials were published on the NVT website (nvtonline.com.au) and in state department of agriculture crop sowing guides.
NVT trials containing genetically modified (GM) canola were again conducted in 2010. Eighteen trials commenced; all of five Victorian trials and two of five New South Wales trials were abandoned as a result of extremely wet weather and bird damage, and two of eight Western Australian trials were abandoned because of drought conditions.
The trials were designed as multiple chemistry trials, to enable the comparison of varieties across different herbicide tolerance classes (glyphosate, triazine and imidazolinone). Results revealed that varieties from each herbicide tolerance class were represented in the leading five varieties of different Western Australian trials, while glyphosate-tolerant (GM) and imidazolinone-tolerant varieties performed best in New South Wales trials, as Figure 12 shows.
Figure 12 Highest yielding canola varieties in National Variety Trials in Western Australia
and
New South Wales, 2010–11
In 2010, 15 NVT regional advisory committees were established to assist industry to provide input into the management of NVT trials. All but two committees (those representing the Australian high-rainfall zone and central Victoria) have met at least once to discuss changes to enhance the value of the NVT program to growers. These meetings have resulted in changes to a number of NVT trial management practices, including the NVT program policy regarding the fungicide treatment of trials. From the 2011 season, the fungicide management of trials will be altered to reflect district best practice, with all trials sprayed for the control of stripe rust when required.
Juan Juttner, GRDC Manager Gene Discovery, inspects a canola trial at Wagga Wagga, NSW. Photo: GRDC
The NVT program recently implemented a system for updating the NVT website daily while harvest data is being processed, so that program data is distributed to industry within 24 hours of processing.
The GRDC continued to partner with state departments of agriculture to support delivery of NVT data to industry. In 2010, GRDC supported the production and distribution of state department of agriculture crop sowing guides in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
Case Study
Suppressing weeds with competitive wheat cultivars
Competition for nutrients has a major negative effect on crop productivity, particularly for current Australian wheat varieties which compete poorly with weeds. This is of special concern where weeds are herbicide resistant. The build-up of weed seedbanks is also a serious management issue, even with the use of herbicides. Improved competitive ability has the potential to improve wheat yield and restrict weed seedbank increases.
As part of a GRDC-supported project at the University of Adelaide, the effect of early-vigour wheat lines with different levels of suppression on weed seedbank build-up was simulated over many crop cycles, using the Resistance and Integrated Management (RIM) tool to evaluate the performance of different integrated weed management practices. As shown in Figure 13, results indicate that early vigour achieves sustainable levels of weed control when used as part of an integrated weed management package.
The outcome of the simulation confirmed the need to develop weed-competitive wheat genotypes, suitable for inclusion in Australian wheat-breeding programs, through targeted breeding. During 2010, an extensive field trial program was conducted to evaluate the competitive ability of the wheat lines in this project. These experiments involved continuation of trials established during 2009, designed to study the effects of different environments as well as effects of different seeding rates and weed species on competitive ability.
Through targeted wheat breeding selecting for high early vigour, highly vigorous parents were used in a series of crosses to include alternative dwarfing genes, disease tolerance and grain quality traits. Approximately 7,000 wheat lines were produced and phenotyped. The most vigorous and agronomically suitable lines were selected and screened in the presence of weeds to determine their ability to tolerate and suppress weeds. The selected materials express a much higher early vigour and competitive ability than current commercial wheat varieties.
The yields of some experimental lines were greater than those of the current commercial variety Wyalkatchem, which is remarkable, considering that the lines were primarily selected for high vigour and not for yield. These results clearly indicate that there is no measurable trade-off between increased vigour and yield under dryland conditions. Increased early vigour does not result in excessive pre‑anthesis water use which in turn would reduce water availability during grain fill and could lead to reduced yield and grain size. Early ground coverage by early-vigour lines increases shading of the soil and thus reduces evaporation, which means more water remains available for transpiration.
Another unexpected observation was that pre-harvest sprouting in the experimental early-vigour lines was significantly reduced compared to the commercial checks used during the 2010–11 growing season, which was characterised by above-average rainfall and generalised high levels of sprouting.
Selected high-vigour lines have shown excellent competitiveness across multiple trials and locations in South Australia and Western Australia, with high levels of ryegrass suppression compared to the commercial varieties. The most weed-suppressive line reduced ryegrass by a further 60 percent compared to Yitpi, which is one of the most competitive commercial varieties.
Wheat lines developed in this project, incorporating high competitive ability with suitable agronomic plant traits, are now entering wheat-breeding programs. Their translation into new commercial varieties will provide wheat growers with a valuable new option for integrated weed management.
Figure 13 Comparison of effects of weed management strategies on the ryegrass seedbank
Case Study
Aligning variety trials with industry practice for stripe rust
Recent GRDC-supported research has shown that wheat diseases cause the Australian grains industry average annual losses of $76 per hectare of wheat grown. While this impact is most keenly felt by Australian wheat farmers, diseases also affect researchers and agronomists conducting wheat research and extension field trials.
Stripe rust in particular has the potential to significantly impact plant performance and trial results, including yield assessment data. Large field trial programs, such as the GRDC-funded National Variety Trials (NVT) program, which aims to provide growers with robust and independent data regarding the regional performance of new varieties of grain crops, are consistently affected by stripe rust outbreaks.
Since its inception, the NVT program has maintained a policy of not spraying wheat trials for rust. In 2008, the NVT program was formally reviewed; one of the key recommendations from this review was that the impact of this policy on the quality of data provided to industry should be assessed. In particular, it was acknowledged that in some seasons and specific regions the application of fungicides to control stripe rust was common district practice, even on wheat varieties which meet current minimum stripe rust disease standards (MS in Western Australia and MR-MS in the other grain-growing states). Therefore, in those regions the NVT program protocols were not aligned with district best practice.
In response to the review, approximately 20 per cent of the 2010 NVT wheat trials were converted to four replicate trials, with two replicates sprayed with fungicides in response to stripe rust infection and two replicates left unprotected. Comparison of sprayed versus unsprayed yield data revealed that stripe rust had a statistically significant impact upon the yield of varieties with a resistance rating of less than R-MR (Figure 14).
Figure 14 Yield losses of varieties in New South Wales NVT wheat trials due to stripe rust infection, in the presence and absence of fungicide control, grouped by varietal resistance rating
Based on the 2010 NVT results, the NVT fungicide-use policy has been amended to permit trials to be sprayed for control of stripe rust when required. This change in policy has been endorsed by industry, based upon the need to manage NVT trials according to regional common practice, which in the 2010 season involved the widespread use of fungicides to manage the stripe rust epidemic. The change in policy ensures that data extended to industry reflects varietal performance under standard agronomic practice.
The use of fungicides in NVT wheat trials does not mark a departure from GRDC R&D support to facilitate the improvement of varietal disease resistance. NVT continues to maintain a policy of not accepting wheat lines entered into NVT if they do not meet minimum rust resistance standards.
OUTPUT GROUP 2—VARIETIES |
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|---|---|---|
Objective |
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Growers have access to superior varieties that enable them to effectively compete in global grain markets |
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Strategies |
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Build and sustain world-leading breeding programs |
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Investment budget for 2010–11 |
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$57.67 million |
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Performance for 2010–11 |
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Performance indicators |
Targets |
Achievements |
| Build and sustain world-leading breeding programs | ||
Average annual increase in yield (as measured in NVT trials) for wheat, barley, canola, sorghum and pulses |
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New wheat and barley varieties with yields up to 10 percent higher than current dominant cultivars.
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Release of:
|
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Commercial breeding programs meeting minimum disease standards |
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More than 90 percent of second-year entries met minimum disease standards for rust resistance. |
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Blackleg ratings of 7 or greater for over 90 percent of canola varieties that were released in 2010–11 and targeted at blackleg-prone areas. |
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Research partners continue to invest in breeding programs where market failure exists |
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Research partners contribute more than 50 percent of the running costs of the breeding programs for chickpeas, lentils, lupins, field peas, mungbeans, soybeans, peanuts, vetch, oats and durum wheat. |
Efficient and cost-effective royalty collection systems in place |
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The system for automatic deduction of EPRs from grower payments was consolidated, with 28 grain handlers and traders now supporting this simplified system of EPR collection. |
Cost-efficient breeding programs |
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All pulse breeding programs expanding in population size. Advances achieved in developing new germplasm with increased resistance to:
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| Focus pre-breeding research on key traits | ||
Nationally coordinated pre-breeding research with a focus on agreed key traits and effective international linkages |
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Work by the Australian Durum Wheat Improvement Program on root adaptive traits to improve durum performance on adverse soils. Stable durum lines with chromosome sections from bread wheat, containing crown rot resistance attributes, obtained by the University of Southern Queensland. |
Evidence that genes, germplasm and enabling technologies developed in GRDC-supported pre‑breeding research are being used in breeding programs |
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Industry licensing of:
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| Develop a path to market for genetically modified crops | ||
Delivery platforms developed for genetically modified crops in Australia |
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Increased transformation efficiency of lupins that has generated a high number of herbicide resistant events; outputs are undergoing further testing before proceeding to field trials. |
| Facilitate faster adoption of superior varieties | ||
Increased use of NVT results by paid grower advisers |
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2010 Grower Survey showing that 68 percent of paid advisers make reference to NVT when assisting their clients to select varieties. |
Breeder participation in NVT |
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All Australian cereal, pulse and canola breeders participated in NVT during 2010–11. |
At the launch of the two new Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) lentil varieties at the Royal Adelaide Show were (from left) SARDI pulse agronomist Larn McMurray, SA Minister for Agriculture the Hon. Michael O’Brien MP and GRDC Manager Pulse Breeding Brondwen MacLean. Photo: GRDC
What’s in the RD&E pipeline for 2011–12?
- Two new projects at the University of Adelaide and CSIRO Plant Industry that will focus on the molecular basis of pre-harvest sprouting.
- A new CSIRO project that will focus on introgression and the generation of molecular markers for field-level crown rot resistance in barley.
- Research at the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics to identify genes and gene networks underpinning a range of abiotic stress tolerance traits. This includes work to improve water-use efficiency and enhance responses to climate change, salinity and other environmental degradation.
- Increased focus on international collaboration and capacity building by Pulse Breeding Australia, including a postgraduate training stream to increase the skills and breadth of pulse researchers in Australia.
- A project to expand the brassica germplasm base in Australia through collaboration with China and India.
- Work to provide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker resources through the Australian Wheat and Barley Molecular Marker Program. The program will expand to include new barley-related projects to produce the tools to breed for:
- acid soil tolerance
- reduced severity of net form net blotch disease
- improved end-use quality.