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Plant Breeding, 11 Mar 2024
Gene technology comes into play on New Zealand pastures
AgResearch in New Zealand is developing pasture research programs using gene technology – including gene editing – that aim to increase productivity, improve animal health and deliver environmental benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the modified white clover bred and grown in contained conditions in New Zealand, three years of field trials have been completed in the US.
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Plant Breeding, 01 Mar 2024
Researchers gain access to genetic resources to speed up oat, lupin breeding
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has announced a strategic partnership with Traitomic, a Denmark-based crop trait development company, to revolutionize the breeding of oat and lupin varieties for Australian grain growers. This collaboration aims to enhance the availability of novel grain crop diversity, knowledge about this diversity, and methods for integrating it into elite crop varieties, thereby accelerating the development of new, improved varieties. Through the GRDC-Traitomic partnership, Australian breeders and pre-breeders will gain unprecedented access to extensive genetic libraries of unique genetic variants for oats and lupins, enabling the rapid identification of genes driving essential crop traits such as disease resistance and drought tolerance.
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Plant Breeding, 16 Jan 2024
National project to advance Australian virus management
From evaluating new strains of virus to assessing the annual impact on crops, the latest national virus program has an extensive scope of work, ultimately focused on helping growers to improve yields and profitability. GRDC has invested $12 million in a five-year national research project to help growers better prevent and manage virus infections in their crops.
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Plant Breeding, 16 Nov 2023
Resistant regions mapped in RLN research
Wild chickpea relatives collected from south-east Türkiye (Turkey) are helping researchers develop new root lesion nematode-resistant chickpea varieties.
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Plant Breeding, 24 Oct 2023
Europe looks to update gene editing regulations
The Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia is an industry initiative established to increase public awareness of, and encourage informed debate and decision-making about, gene technology. The initiative is supported by a number of agricultural sectors and organisations all working to ensure the Australian farming sector can appropriately access and adopt this technology for the benefit of Australian agriculture.
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Plant Breeding, 20 Oct 2023
Throwing the kitchen sink at Fusarium crown rot disease
A strategy that encompasses genetics, breeding, agronomic management and seed treatment technologies is being used to claw back yield losses due to Fusarium crown rot disease in wheat
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Plant Breeding, 17 Oct 2023
Synchrotron looks deep into wheat’s nutritional value
GRDC is investing in research to increase understanding and research capacity for developing agronomic methods that can lead to the production of grains with higher nutritional benefit. Using instruments at the X-ray fluorescence microscopy beamline, crop scientists can investigate the concentrations and distribution of micronutrients accumulated in dozens of grain samples in a relatively short timeframe.
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Plant Breeding, 05 Sep 2023
GM and gene-edited grass research program expanded
AgResearch, one of seven Crown Research Institutes in New Zealand, has announced it is expanding its genetically modified and gene-edited grasses research and development program. Field trials of the GM ryegrass have been undertaken in the United States, due to the ban on GM crop commercialisation in New Zealand.
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Plant Breeding, 20 Jun 2023
Improved canola heat tolerance observed in field trials
Heat tolerance traits are undergoing extensive field trials and genetic analysis following their identification in newly resynthesised canola material that contains novel genetic diversity.
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Plant Breeding, 27 Apr 2023
Scientists crack one of cropping’s most sought-after genetic secrets
By studying plants that can withstand dry environments, scientists at the University of Queensland have identified some of the genes responsible for one of the most important drought adaption traits in cereal crops – the ‘stay-green’ trait