Fertility crisis: harnessing the genomic tension behind pollen fertility in sorghum. Hybrid sorghum varieties yield more grain than inbred varieties but the production seed for farmers can be difficult. This project will identify the genes responsible for a trait that makes hybrid seed production possible and this knowledge will help raise sorghum yields in Australian and in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Australia’s native sorghums. This project aims to investigate the biological mechanisms driving the evolution of toxic cyanogenic glucosides by exploiting the natural diversity of Australian wild relatives of the crop sorghum that are adapted to different environments. Wild crop relatives are an important source of traits for improving their cultivated counterparts. Analysing the diversity and evolution of Australia’s 17 native sorghum species will provide new understanding of how plants have ad ....Australia’s native sorghums. This project aims to investigate the biological mechanisms driving the evolution of toxic cyanogenic glucosides by exploiting the natural diversity of Australian wild relatives of the crop sorghum that are adapted to different environments. Wild crop relatives are an important source of traits for improving their cultivated counterparts. Analysing the diversity and evolution of Australia’s 17 native sorghum species will provide new understanding of how plants have adapted to environmental challenges across diverse Australian environments. This should provide significant benefit by providing new resources for plant breeders to produce more climate-resilient crops.Read moreRead less
Predicting Perfect Partners: climate resilient seed production technology . This project aims to increase productivity and profitability of the Australian sorghum industry in the face of risks imposed by an increasingly variable climate. This project expects to generate new knowledge of processes limiting hybrid seed production and translate this world-class research into tools and services that can be used by seed companies to improve its efficiency and reliability. The intended outcome will in ....Predicting Perfect Partners: climate resilient seed production technology . This project aims to increase productivity and profitability of the Australian sorghum industry in the face of risks imposed by an increasingly variable climate. This project expects to generate new knowledge of processes limiting hybrid seed production and translate this world-class research into tools and services that can be used by seed companies to improve its efficiency and reliability. The intended outcome will increase the security and sustainability of farming by minimising the risk of climate-induced seed shortages, maintaining Australia’s leadership in agricultural technology development. The expected benefits support profitable and productive businesses, providing Australian agriculture with a competitive, sustainable edge.Read moreRead less
Breaking the nexus: more biomass in cereal grain. Grain yield is controlled by complex, regulated genetic networks or quantitative trait loci (QTLs) derived from natural variations in many crop plants. Yield is a product of the three major parameters: panicle number, grain number and grain size, trade-offs are commonly observed between grain number and size. There is evidence to suggest it is possible to improve grain size without altering overall biomass. With the genomic and genetic resource t ....Breaking the nexus: more biomass in cereal grain. Grain yield is controlled by complex, regulated genetic networks or quantitative trait loci (QTLs) derived from natural variations in many crop plants. Yield is a product of the three major parameters: panicle number, grain number and grain size, trade-offs are commonly observed between grain number and size. There is evidence to suggest it is possible to improve grain size without altering overall biomass. With the genomic and genetic resource tools at hand. This project will elucidate the genetic architecture of grain size, and manipulate the key loci to generate more biomass in the grain, minimising or eliminating the adverse impact on seed number. This will maximise harvestable yield without imposing increased demand for water and nutrients.Read moreRead less