WITH so much uncertainty surrounding the changing climate, farmers could soon benefit from access to heat and drought-tolerant wheat varieties thanks to a new $4.3 million research hub.
The Australian Research Council Research Hub for Genetic Diversity and Molecular Breeding for Wheat in a Hot and Dry Climate will be established by researchers at the University of Adelaide and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics at the Waite campus, in partnership with the Grains Research and Development Corporation, UniSA and wheat breeding companies Australian Grain Technologies, Intergrain and Longreach Plant Breeders.
The hub will aim to develop wheat with combined heat and drought tolerance by encouraging a higher level of collaboration between researchers at the ACPFG and plant breeders.
"We're extremely happy to have that hub - it's great news and a very exciting project," ACPFG co-chief executive officer Sigrid Heuer said.
"Wheat is Australia's most important crop but is challenged by our harsh and variable climate."
Associate Professor Heuer said the establishment of the hub came at the ideal time to take advantage of a decade of work by the ACPFG.
"This is really wrapping up many years of research and trying to put it into practice now," she said. "So many years' of work went into the heat and the drought tolerance, and we feel we have a lot to pass on to the breeders already.
* Full report in Stock Journal, June 19, 2014 issue.
Jacinta Rose
Stock Journal's online editor.
Stock Journal's online editor.
