grdc growers' report - Grains Research & Development Corporation

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investment highlights 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 <strong>Grains</strong> RD&E Strategy. 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. 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. Peanuts In the past few years, the Peanut Company of Australia (PCA) has <strong>report</strong>ed 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 offflavour contamination in peanuts. 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. 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 A is a high-yielding mediumsized red lentil that is slightly rounder and significantly larger than the current main variety, Nugget. • PBA Jumbo A is a high-yielding, largeseeded 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. • PBA Oura A and PBA Percy A are being released concurrently to provide growers with superior field pea options in regions prone to bacterial blight. • Tingoora A is a high-oleic, ultra–early maturing peanut variety, specifically developed to assist dryland peanut growers to better manage climate variability. 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. 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. 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 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 , a new spring-type triticale variety for grain use only. 20 GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010–2011
investment highlights C A S E S T U D Y : 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. 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: CSIRO 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. Managed environment facilities, which permit selection under controlled stress in realistic environments, are becoming increasingly important in both private and public research organisations. 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. Grain functionality 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. As part of a GRDC-supported project at the University of Adelaide, the effect of early-vigour wheat lines developed by the CSIRO 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 2, 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. 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 2 Comparison of effects of weed management strategies on the ryegrass seedbank Ryegrass seedbank (’000 seed/m 2 ) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 5 10 15 20 Year/crop Strategies: S1 = normal seed rate (50 kg/ha) and management practices S2 = sowing at high seed rate (80 kg/ha) S3 = sowing at high seed rate but using a wheat cultivar that provides 30% additional weed suppression S4 = same as S3 but using a cultivar that provides 50% additional weed suppression S5 = a cultivar with 50% weed suppression combined with windrow burning after barley. Rain-out shelters at the Merredin (WA) managed environment facility. Photo: GRDC GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010–2011 21
Page 1 and 2: GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010-2011 ww
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Page 9 and 10: From the GRDC regions Northern Regi
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Page 15 and 16: Investment Highlights Practices Gro
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Page 31 and 32: The GRDC team The National Panel Co
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grdc growers' report - Grains Research & Development Corporation

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