Reducing environmental footprint by improving phosphorous use efficiency. While modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of phosphorous fertilizers, most of them are not used by plants and lost in runoff, resulting in a massive environmental damage through contamination of waterways (termed eutrophication). This project takes advantage of an untapped resource - a unique collection of Tibetan wild barley genotypes, to reveal key traits that confer superior phosphorus use efficiency in wild ba ....Reducing environmental footprint by improving phosphorous use efficiency. While modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of phosphorous fertilizers, most of them are not used by plants and lost in runoff, resulting in a massive environmental damage through contamination of waterways (termed eutrophication). This project takes advantage of an untapped resource - a unique collection of Tibetan wild barley genotypes, to reveal key traits that confer superior phosphorus use efficiency in wild barley and identify appropriate candidate genes and their position on chromosomes for further incorporating these traits into commercial barley cultivars. This will reduce the environmental footprint of modern agricultural practices on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems without compromising food security.Read moreRead less
Developing molecular and physiological markers for marker-assisted barley breeding for waterlogging tolerance. The overall loss in crop production due to waterlogging is second largest after drought, and more than 5 million hectares in Australia are prone to waterlogging. This project will develop physiological and molecular markers allowing for the development of waterlogging tolerant crops, thus contributing to the National Goal of ‘Responding to Climate Change and Variability’.
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
Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set ....Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set of diagnostic tools are expected to be developed. The successful execution of the project is expected to highlight that Australian malt and barley is of high quality so that the health of domestic customers is ensured and it attracts a premium from our export customers.Read moreRead less
Identifying the diversity and evolution of loci associated with adaptation to aridity/heat and salinity in ancient cereal crops. This project will use ancient grains of wheat, barley and rye to find 'lost' genetic diversity at key genes associated with resistance to aridity, salt and disease. This project will make the proteins of key genes, and study their interaction with the environment over time by measuring ions in the grains to reveal the ancient environmental conditions.
Mining the rice genome for alleles of value in rice improvement. Food production and quality are determined by the varieties of food plants that are used in agriculture. A high quality rice genome sequence became available in 2005. This project will mine the data in the sequence to identify genes associated with key production and quality traits. New technologies and strategies will be developed and applied. The discoveries will be of value for the model crop, rice and for other cereal and foo ....Mining the rice genome for alleles of value in rice improvement. Food production and quality are determined by the varieties of food plants that are used in agriculture. A high quality rice genome sequence became available in 2005. This project will mine the data in the sequence to identify genes associated with key production and quality traits. New technologies and strategies will be developed and applied. The discoveries will be of value for the model crop, rice and for other cereal and food crops. Human health benefits from the availability of technologies to combine desirable nutritional traits and attractiveness to humans. This ensures healthy foods will be produced and consumed.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect hi ....Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for A ....Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Control points in nitrogen uptake: enhancing the response of cereals to nitrogen supply and demand. Vast amounts of nitrogen fertiliser are applied to cereal crops to maintain yields. By uncovering what limits nitrogen uptake in cereals, this project will provide the scientific basis for improving nitrogen use efficiency and decreasing fertiliser use, with significant economic and environmental benefits.
Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. This project aims to extract value from spent barley grains, the major by-product of the brewing industry. Currently sold as animal feed, this waste stream is a raw source of valuable carbohydrates and proteins for functional foods, packaging materials and liquid biofuels. This project will combine multidisciplinary approaches to characterise spent grain components and optimise rel ....Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. Adding value to waste products from the brewing industry. This project aims to extract value from spent barley grains, the major by-product of the brewing industry. Currently sold as animal feed, this waste stream is a raw source of valuable carbohydrates and proteins for functional foods, packaging materials and liquid biofuels. This project will combine multidisciplinary approaches to characterise spent grain components and optimise release of bioactive molecules for use as prebiotics, antioxidants, nutraceuticals, and modifiers of beer quality. The research is expected to generate resources for studying barley grain, intellectual property, patents and new in-line processes for the brewing industry.Read moreRead less