grdc growers' report - Grains Research & Development Corporation

investment highlights
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.
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 the
QTL-6A, controlling grain size and flag leaf
width, and is the wheat version of a gene
that controls grain weight and yield 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,
What’s in the
RD&E pipeline
for 2011–12
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
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.
• 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.
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 results of 568 trials were
published on the NVT website
(nvtonline.com.au) and in state department
of agriculture crop sowing guides.
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.
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.
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.
22 GRDC GROWERS’ REPORT 2010–2011