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GRDC Websites

95 results found
  • The quest for sorghum that will not buckle under pressure
    Plant Breeding, 23 Jan 2025
    The quest for sorghum that will not buckle under pressure

    Improved lodging resistance in sorghum is crucial for increasing crop yield potential. The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is investing in research to identify genetic traits that strengthen sorghum stems. This initiative aims to enhance the physical robustness of sorghum plants, promoting greater agricultural productivity and sustainability. By focusing on these genetic improvements, GRDC is empowering breeders to maximise yield performance, paving the way for a more resilient future in sorghum farming amidst environmental challenges.

  • First GM food crop listed
    Plant Breeding, 02 Dec 2024
    First GM food crop listed

    A canola variety modified to tolerate the herbicide glyphosate has been placed on the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) GMO Register. It is the first genetically modified (GM) food crop to be listed. GM and genetically engineered wheat is also gaining momentum.

  • Gains in barley heat tolerance prove possible
    Plant Breeding, 26 Nov 2024
    Gains in barley heat tolerance prove possible

    Heat stress can mean barley crops are downgraded from malting to feed quality. This impacts price, resulting in up to a 30 per cent drop in profit. When combined with drought stress, heat is the largest factor in both the loss of quality premiums and yield reductions. Professor Chengdao Li leads a GRDC investment that investigated the genetic response to heat stress in barley and the potential to increase the crop’s tolerance levels.

  • Yield advantages with new chickpea heat tolerance traits
    Plant Breeding, 21 Nov 2024
    Yield advantages with new chickpea heat tolerance traits

    High temperatures during chickpea’s critical flowering and pod-fill period reduce seed size and number. To mitigate these yield losses, a proof-of-concept study searched for novel heat-tolerance traits within the broader chickpea gene pool. The project is headed by Professor Richard Trethowan, director of the Plant Breeding Institute at the University of Sydney.

  • New ways to select for heat tolerance in wheat
    Plant Breeding, 19 Nov 2024
    New ways to select for heat tolerance in wheat

    Trait discovery work in wheat has identified new indicators for heat tolerance and efficient selection technology for use by breeders for rapid progression into new varieties and on to Australian paddocks

  • AI fast-tracking wheat heat tolerance gains
    Plant Breeding, 14 Nov 2024
    AI fast-tracking wheat heat tolerance gains

    Increasing temperatures and variable environments are challenging. Effective field-based strategies for assessing heat tolerance phenotypes are needed. GRDC scholar Rebecca Thistlethwaite at the University of Sydney has developed a strategy that uses a three-tiered approach.

  • Generational shift supports gene editing
    Plant Breeding, 24 Oct 2024
    Generational shift supports gene editing

    The increasing acceptance of gene editing for food crops is paving the way for broader use of advanced technologies to enhance agricultural production, according to Professor Barry Pogson, director of the ARC Training Centre for Future Crop Development. In his keynote address at the Australian Grains Industry Conference in Melbourne this August, Professor Pogson emphasized the importance of public support for genetic techniques that can boost crop performance. He noted that while regulatory barriers often slow the adoption of new crop varieties, rising consumer acceptance could accelerate approval processes, driving innovation in the agricultural sector.

  • Genetic mechanism unlocks a key secret behind disease infection in crops
    Plant Breeding, 10 Oct 2024
    Genetic mechanism unlocks a key secret behind disease infection in crops

    CCDM researchers have unravelled a key genetic mechanism behind the way pathogens infect crops, leading to new strategies for breeding resistant crop varieties against other pathogens carrying the same genetic mechanism.

  • Genebanks made to order for the 21st century
    Plant Breeding, 26 Sep 2024
    Genebanks made to order for the 21st century

    Upgrades to the Australian Grains Genebank have created an integrated pipeline delivering the genetic resources breeders need to put advanced crop varieties into growers’ paddocks. This upgrade is being undertaken as a $30 million, five-year co-investment by GRDC and the Victorian Government from 2022 to 2027. Recently completed was an $8.8 million infrastructure upgrade to Agriculture Victoria’s Horsham SmartFarm, also as a co-investment. The upgrade aims to transform the AGG from a traditional genebank into a bio-digital resource centre, where digital and genomic information is used to make the plant genetic resources conserved within the AGG even more accessible and useful to the grains industry.

  • Re-imagining heat tolerance traits in wheat – part 2
    Plant Breeding, 04 Jun 2024
    Re-imagining heat tolerance traits in wheat – part 2

    New ways to select for heat tolerance in wheat are under development in four new projects that are mining wheat’s heat-responsive biochemical processes using advanced phenotyping technology

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