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Precise recognition for automated harvesting and grading of strawberries. This project aims to improve automated strawberry harvesting to enable industrial harvesters to be deployed for commercial use and to lift the productivity of the Australian fruit industry. Precise recognition and grading of strawberries is a major obstacle in developing fully-automated commercial strawberry harvesting systems. Current colour-based fruit recognition techniques have intrinsic limitations in meeting the need ....Precise recognition for automated harvesting and grading of strawberries. This project aims to improve automated strawberry harvesting to enable industrial harvesters to be deployed for commercial use and to lift the productivity of the Australian fruit industry. Precise recognition and grading of strawberries is a major obstacle in developing fully-automated commercial strawberry harvesting systems. Current colour-based fruit recognition techniques have intrinsic limitations in meeting the needs of automatic strawberry harvesting. This project aims to investigate high-level syntactic recognition approaches that embed high-order texture patterns of ripe fruit and hyperspectral analysis techniques to achieve partially occluded fruit recognition and grading of fruit at the level required by commercial production.Read moreRead less
Interactions between genotype, plant nutrition and fungal disease development in strawberry. Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) growers lose more than 30% of their crop annually to disease. This project will elucidate the role of plant nutrition in disease development and investigate the interaction/s between plant genotype, pathogen and the environment. The physiological basis for durable resistance will also be established. Molecular markers for field resistance and nutrient use efficiency will ....Interactions between genotype, plant nutrition and fungal disease development in strawberry. Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) growers lose more than 30% of their crop annually to disease. This project will elucidate the role of plant nutrition in disease development and investigate the interaction/s between plant genotype, pathogen and the environment. The physiological basis for durable resistance will also be established. Molecular markers for field resistance and nutrient use efficiency will be developed for use in breeding programs. Furthermore, this project will enhance profitability and sustainability of the Australian strawberry industry.
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Precision Pollination: Data-driven enhancements to boost crop yield. The project aims to transform industrial crop pollination from an intuitive domain to one where decisions are based on sound data and best-practice principles. It proposes to achieve this modernisation of global pollination practice by developing novel technologies to operate a three-stage loop: honeybee pollination monitoring, simulation-based forecasting, and management. This is intended to ensure that the capability of honey ....Precision Pollination: Data-driven enhancements to boost crop yield. The project aims to transform industrial crop pollination from an intuitive domain to one where decisions are based on sound data and best-practice principles. It proposes to achieve this modernisation of global pollination practice by developing novel technologies to operate a three-stage loop: honeybee pollination monitoring, simulation-based forecasting, and management. This is intended to ensure that the capability of honeybees to provide essential ecosystem services is informed by transferable, standardised data acquisition and management techniques that maintain bee health and maximise pollination. The anticipated outcomes are higher fruit yields and quality, and a beneficial step-change in industry productivity and profitability.Read moreRead less
Understanding coffee quality. Through this project, coffee quality will be better understood at the chemical and genetic level. This will allow the selection of superior coffee varieties and appropriate processing in the production of high quality coffee to satisfy consumer preferences. This project will result in a strong local coffee industry with a growing reputation for quality, and global application of the technology may bring further economic benefits to Australia.
Prediction of fruit quality by non-invasive assessment, with special reference to avocado. The project aims to develop non-invasive rapid assessment techniques of avocado quality (dry matter percentage, oil content, susceptibility to rots) suitable for application in at-line, in-line and in-field settings using NIR spectroscopic methods. The development and introduction of these non-invasive technologies into the avocado industry will allow rapid low-cost testing to support existing quality con ....Prediction of fruit quality by non-invasive assessment, with special reference to avocado. The project aims to develop non-invasive rapid assessment techniques of avocado quality (dry matter percentage, oil content, susceptibility to rots) suitable for application in at-line, in-line and in-field settings using NIR spectroscopic methods. The development and introduction of these non-invasive technologies into the avocado industry will allow rapid low-cost testing to support existing quality control procedures. The technology has the potential to enhance the competitive advantage of Australian producers/processors by guaranteeing high quality and optimising shelf-life. The ability to deliver a differentiated product will maximise sales in existing markets and facilitate the targeting of new domestic and overseas markets.Read moreRead less
Design and Optimisation of Spinning Cone Columns. This project will optimise the design and operation of spinning cone columns, a novel industrial distillation technology that has been developed in Australia. Novel and significant outcomes include applying Computational Fluid Dynamics to the design and optimisation of food processing equipment, understanding fundamental modelling issues in simulating strongly swirling flows, and allowing scale-up to be performed reliably from first principles. ....Design and Optimisation of Spinning Cone Columns. This project will optimise the design and operation of spinning cone columns, a novel industrial distillation technology that has been developed in Australia. Novel and significant outcomes include applying Computational Fluid Dynamics to the design and optimisation of food processing equipment, understanding fundamental modelling issues in simulating strongly swirling flows, and allowing scale-up to be performed reliably from first principles. The result will be a "virtual model" of the equipment, allowing design and optimisation of the equipment to be performed from first principles.Read moreRead less
Insoluble-fibre enriched beverages. Insoluble-fibre enriched beverages. This project aims to develop healthy new beverages, by studying the effect of chemistry and physical interactions of insoluble dietary fibre with other food ingredients. Insoluble fibre reduces the risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. This project will research how insoluble-fibre linked phytochemicals behave in complex matrices and contribute to malodorous flavours; and design adv ....Insoluble-fibre enriched beverages. Insoluble-fibre enriched beverages. This project aims to develop healthy new beverages, by studying the effect of chemistry and physical interactions of insoluble dietary fibre with other food ingredients. Insoluble fibre reduces the risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. This project will research how insoluble-fibre linked phytochemicals behave in complex matrices and contribute to malodorous flavours; and design advanced experimental protocols to prevent undesirable sensory characteristics in liquid systems.Read moreRead less
Identification of nutritional bioactives in tropical fruit. Information on the nutritional properties of tropical fruits is currently limited to chemical analysis of vitamins, minerals and fibre. This project aims to identify additional nutritional components within tropical fruits by assessing activities against a range of cell-based assays. Selected assays will represent cellular processes relating to e.g. lipid metabolism, cancer prevention, and antioxidant effects. Assay-based fractionation ....Identification of nutritional bioactives in tropical fruit. Information on the nutritional properties of tropical fruits is currently limited to chemical analysis of vitamins, minerals and fibre. This project aims to identify additional nutritional components within tropical fruits by assessing activities against a range of cell-based assays. Selected assays will represent cellular processes relating to e.g. lipid metabolism, cancer prevention, and antioxidant effects. Assay-based fractionation approaches will be used to identify molecular bioactives acting either alone or synergistically with other components. Results will be used in public health and/or marketing communication, and will provide targets for breeding and varietal selection programmes.Read moreRead less
Genetic and environmental basis for endosperm hardness in malting barley. Barleys with a hard endosperm do not malt as well as other barleys, leading to under-modified malt. While malts may appear to be satisfactory by bulk chemical analysis, even relatively small amounts of under-modified malt causes problems in the brewing industry, such as slow filtration rates and increasing haze formation. We aim to examine two new procedures potentially useful in determining heterogeneity in barley hardn ....Genetic and environmental basis for endosperm hardness in malting barley. Barleys with a hard endosperm do not malt as well as other barleys, leading to under-modified malt. While malts may appear to be satisfactory by bulk chemical analysis, even relatively small amounts of under-modified malt causes problems in the brewing industry, such as slow filtration rates and increasing haze formation. We aim to examine two new procedures potentially useful in determining heterogeneity in barley hardness by examining single kernels, and investigating the role of barley variety and growing conditions on hardness.This project will aid in the production and selection of more uniform barleys for the malting and brewing industries.Read moreRead less
Developing New Multifunctional Layered Particles with Novel Modular Food Processing Systems. The global market for organic foods has a value of approximately $150 billion, indicating the high potential export market. Australia's organic industry is currently valued at $350M, with annual growth of 25%. Alternatives to chemical preservatives in products such as breads are in demand, and Australian essential oils show promise, but new technology is required to value-add products from essential oil ....Developing New Multifunctional Layered Particles with Novel Modular Food Processing Systems. The global market for organic foods has a value of approximately $150 billion, indicating the high potential export market. Australia's organic industry is currently valued at $350M, with annual growth of 25%. Alternatives to chemical preservatives in products such as breads are in demand, and Australian essential oils show promise, but new technology is required to value-add products from essential oil producers. Spray drying will be used with the smart coating of extracts, such as antimicrobial compounds, as natural preservatives that promote the shelf life of foods, benefitting service providers, the wider food industry and consumers. Read moreRead less