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New fertiliser technologies for sustained food security. This project aims to provide fundamental research to develop next-generation fertiliser products that will improve nitrogen use efficiency, and reduce nitrogen losses in food production systems. It will achieve this goal through a multidisciplinary approach combining experts in synthetic and free radical chemistry, chemical engineering and soil science, with a strong commitment from a fertiliser industry partner. Society is facing the tri ....New fertiliser technologies for sustained food security. This project aims to provide fundamental research to develop next-generation fertiliser products that will improve nitrogen use efficiency, and reduce nitrogen losses in food production systems. It will achieve this goal through a multidisciplinary approach combining experts in synthetic and free radical chemistry, chemical engineering and soil science, with a strong commitment from a fertiliser industry partner. Society is facing the triple challenges of food security, environmental degradation and climate change The availability of new, highly-efficient fertilisers is critical for addressing these challenges, and for the competitive advantage of the Australian fertiliser industry.Read moreRead less
Forecasting soil conditions. Not knowing where and how soil responds to climate change and human intervention compromises food, water, climate and energy security. Currently there is a lack of soil process knowledge and data infrastructure collectively causing significant uncertainty and risk in the assessments of key threats to soil. The project devises a transformational digital soil model to forecast where and how soil pH and carbon will change in New South Wales. Tested on sites within Au ....Forecasting soil conditions. Not knowing where and how soil responds to climate change and human intervention compromises food, water, climate and energy security. Currently there is a lack of soil process knowledge and data infrastructure collectively causing significant uncertainty and risk in the assessments of key threats to soil. The project devises a transformational digital soil model to forecast where and how soil pH and carbon will change in New South Wales. Tested on sites within Australia, the model will give insight on the drivers of change and will provide a unique analysis of the effect of climate change and land management on the dynamics of soil.Read moreRead less
Turning sand into sheep feed - Lebeckia ambigua an agricultural perennial! This project aims to develop nitrogen-fixing legumes adapted to the changing climate. Nitrogen fixation from legumes is worth $3 billion to the Australian agricultural economy, but changing rainfall patterns threaten much of this. One solution is to transition pasture growth to a reliance on perennial plants, which are less affected by unseasonal rain. Lebeckia ambigua is an outstanding perennial legume to begin this chan ....Turning sand into sheep feed - Lebeckia ambigua an agricultural perennial! This project aims to develop nitrogen-fixing legumes adapted to the changing climate. Nitrogen fixation from legumes is worth $3 billion to the Australian agricultural economy, but changing rainfall patterns threaten much of this. One solution is to transition pasture growth to a reliance on perennial plants, which are less affected by unseasonal rain. Lebeckia ambigua is an outstanding perennial legume to begin this change, but its nitrogen fixation is compromised by nodulation failure caused by death of its symbiotic rhizobia. This project intends to improve the survival in acid and infertile soils of the unique rhizobial symbionts the research team has discovered for Lebeckia ambigua in South Africa.Read moreRead less
Microbial sulphatises in the rhizosphere and their control by interactions with plants. Plant-microbe interactions are critical in mobilizing soil sulphur for crop growth. This project will identify the microbes responsible for delivering sulphur to two major Australian crops, and will examine how the plants stimulate this activity in their root zone. The results have potential application for sustainable agriculture in Australia.
Big data modelling to forecast crop yield to enable precision fertilisation. This project aims to lay a foundation for a generic data-driven approach to more precise management of our agricultural landscapes. A multitude of agriculture-related data streams are now available to growers to characterise their yield, management, soil and weather. However, currently there is no approach able to digest all these disparate data streams to enable a management decision. The project will develop an appro ....Big data modelling to forecast crop yield to enable precision fertilisation. This project aims to lay a foundation for a generic data-driven approach to more precise management of our agricultural landscapes. A multitude of agriculture-related data streams are now available to growers to characterise their yield, management, soil and weather. However, currently there is no approach able to digest all these disparate data streams to enable a management decision. The project will develop an approach to harness all of these data streams to guide spatially variable applications of nitrogen fertilisers with a focus on grains cropping. This should provide the opportunity to allocate fertiliser inputs as required at fine spatial scales according to local soil and weather conditions to maximise profit and minimise off-farm impacts of excessive fertilisation.Read moreRead less
Soil ecology in the 21st century - a crucial role in land management. Recent technological advances have helped us discover the role of soil ecology in achieving sustainability in Australia. This project will develop ways to take this complex knowledge and translate it into forms that can be used by land managers. This work will focus on soil carbon sequestration, but is relevant to many other environmental issues.
Nutrient transfer across symbiotic membranes in soybean. Legume plants interact with soil bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air to obtain nitrogen required for growth, reducing their use of fertilisers. Understanding how nutrients are exchanged between bacteria and legumes may improve the efficiency of this process. This would make legumes a more valuable component of sustainable agricultural systems.
Getting to the root of the matter: predicting plant benefits from arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses. Massive efforts are underway to select beneficial root traits that enhance resource acquisition and productivity. These efforts are usually conducted while excluding mutually beneficial mycorrhizal partnerships, which include two-thirds of higher plants. These efforts are likely to lead to artifactual outcomes unless the modifying effects of these partnerships are considered. While mycorrhization ....Getting to the root of the matter: predicting plant benefits from arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses. Massive efforts are underway to select beneficial root traits that enhance resource acquisition and productivity. These efforts are usually conducted while excluding mutually beneficial mycorrhizal partnerships, which include two-thirds of higher plants. These efforts are likely to lead to artifactual outcomes unless the modifying effects of these partnerships are considered. While mycorrhization can substantially enhance plant vigour, results are often difficult to replicate due to widespread 'context-dependence'. This research will identify plant and fungal traits that predict how mycorrhizal plants benefit under a variety of contexts, which will improve varietal selection and productivity gains in marginal environments.Read moreRead less
Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus ....Reserving nitrogen in soils through microbial nitrate reduction to ammonium. This project aims to identify those microbes able to transform nitrate to ammonium and thus increase soil nitrogen conservation. More than 50 per cent of the nitrogen in fertilisers applied to soils is lost into the environment, which is both a financial loss to farmers and a main anthropogenic source of nitrogen pollution. Some microbes can transform nitrate into ammonium through dissimilatory reduction (DNRA) and thus increase soil nitrogen retention. However, the DNRA process and the responsible microbial groups remain largely unknown. This project plans to use isotope tracing and biomolecular approaches to identify those DNRA microbial groups and elucidate the DNRA reaction process. The findings may support the use of DNRA to improve soil nitrogen.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100271
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$452,005.00
Summary
Synthetic microbiome: improving crop nitrogen acquisition and productivity. Challenges to food security under conditions of global climate change are forcing us to increase crop production to feed the growing population. Focusing on the plant–microbe interactions, represent a promising area in the search for tools to address this challenge. This project aims to develop a three-step- framework that allows researchers to systematically and reproducibly investigate crop microbiomes to enable us to ....Synthetic microbiome: improving crop nitrogen acquisition and productivity. Challenges to food security under conditions of global climate change are forcing us to increase crop production to feed the growing population. Focusing on the plant–microbe interactions, represent a promising area in the search for tools to address this challenge. This project aims to develop a three-step- framework that allows researchers to systematically and reproducibly investigate crop microbiomes to enable us to design a ‘Beneficial Biome’, a biologically based solution for improving agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability under constrained conditions, where limited resources are available to fertilize.Read moreRead less