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Pulses, 08 Dec 2023
Holistic strategy to enhance chickpea blight resistance
Ascochyta blight is the number one disease threat to chickpea production in Australia. GRDC is taking a holistic approach with an investment managed by South Australian Research and Development Institute, uniting skills across several agencies. Mass screening of chickpea lines is being combined with genomic resistance identification to improve the odds for chickpea’s fight against Ascochyta blight.
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Pulses, 07 Dec 2023
Chickpea blight – resistance phenotyping
Simulating conditions for Ascochyta blight disease screening of chickpeas has proved challenging. With GRDC investment it has now been achieved both cost-effectively and with high through-put at Agriculture Victoria’s SmartFarm at both paddock scale and in the glasshouse.
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Pulses, 06 Dec 2023
International profiling team tackle chickpea Ascochyta blight
Ascochyta blight is a continual threat to chickpea production in Australia but a forensic approach by an international consortium is set to type both pathogen and chickpea genomes and improve the odds of success in the battle against the disease.
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Pulses, 05 Dec 2023
Wild relatives recruited to improve chickpea chilling tolerance
Expansion of chickpea production in Australia requires improved chilling tolerance for the species. To this end a GRDC investment has investigated wild relatives of the species to see what genetic scope there may be to aid improvement in domesticated chickpea.
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Pulses, 04 Dec 2023
Adapted rhizobia to boost chickpea performance
Chickpea can obtain a significant amount of nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with rhizobia, but for maximum effect the rhizobia need to be adapted to the environment. With GRDC investment a team at Murdoch University’s Legume Rhizobium Sciences is surveying the efficacy of newly evolved rhizobia species across Australian cropping systems as potential as inoculum strains.
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Pulses, 01 Dec 2023
Chilling-tolerance phenotyping for chickpeas
Increased chilling tolerance is a trait requiring bolstering to expand chickpea production in Australia. To this end, a reliable screening method has been developed and chickpea lines with improved chilling tolerance have been identified by a team from Western Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development with GRDC investment. These outputs will prove valuable for chickpea breeding.
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Pulses, 30 Nov 2023
Expanding the climatic adaptation of chickpeas expanded
Phenology is a key trait conferring adaptation of a plant species to an environment. However, for Australian chickpeas the extent of genetic variation of the trait has been limited. With GRDC investment a team from the University of Tasmania is collaborating with SARDI and CSIRO researchers to build knowledge, acquire more diverse germplasm and construct a genetic tool box for breeders to expand the adaptive reach of chickpeas.
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Pulses, 29 Nov 2023
Multi-species DNA chip to boost chickpea improvement
Connecting pre-breeding pulse research to breeding has proved challenging. With GRDC investment, Agriculture Victoria Research has developed a high-throughput and cost-effective genotyping platform for pulse crops that enables the seamless integration of research outputs into breeding.
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Pulses, 24 Nov 2023
Global germplasm harnessed to deliver improved acid soil tolerant chickpeas
GRDC is seeking to expand production of chickpeas in Australia but acid soils are constraining this endeavour. To address this, international allies have been screening wild relatives looking for improved tolerance and developing genetic tools. Their work is heralding success for Australian growers.
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Pulses, 23 Nov 2023
Firm foundations enable acid soil tolerant chickpea development
Several GRDC investments are providing firm foundations for further development of acid tolerant chickpeas. The work has involved collecting germplasm from overseas and developing screening and genetic tools and will see the area for potential chickpea production in Australia expand.