Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Research Projects

Australian wheat for China

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:35:00 GMT

China has a growing demand for high quality noodles. Demand for wheat to supply this market could rise to over 1.5 million tonnes within the next five years. It is highly unlikely that China will be...

New projects from the GRDC

Australian Cereal Rust Control Program- Adult Plant Resistance to Wheat Rusts

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:30:00 GMT

Rust diseases of wheat continue to cause significant losses worldwide and in Australia. Deployment of single race-specific genes leads to the selection of virulence in pathogen population and a...

New projects from the GRDC

Molecular tools to support SSR and SNP genotyping capabilities in wheat and barley

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:25:00 GMT

DNA markers are a cornerstone of modern cereal breeding and research. Ongoing improvements in marker assay throughput and genome coverage, along with reduced marker assay costs, are required to...

New projects from the GRDC

High Yielding Irrigated Grains in Cotton Farming Systems (HYIGCFS)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

There are significant benefits to both the grains and cotton industries from the development of a water-use efficient, highly productive winter cereal crop option for irrigation. A cropping system...

New projects from the GRDC

Pilot Brewing Evaluation for Malting Barley Lines Destined for Export (BA00002 continuation)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The main aim of the pilot brewing project is to test new malting barley varieties that have been submitted for national variety accreditation by Barley Australia for their brewing performance. This...

New projects from the GRDC

National Integration of crop sequence strategies and tactics

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:50:00 GMT

Ultimately this project aims to demonstrate to farmers what the true cost of various crop rotations are. The project will highlight how beneficial break crops are to farmers, recognising that one...

New projects from the GRDC

Microbial tagging for tracking: Root disease bio-control efficacy and environmental fate of microbial inoculants in crop rotations.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:45:00 GMT

Overall Summary Cereal (wheat and barley) root disease suppression trials have been established in SA, Vic. NSW > WA. Four disease suppressive microbial inoculants and a commercially available...

New projects from the GRDC

Empirical studies of farming systems technology adoption (CSA00028)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:40:00 GMT

This project is aimed at improving understanding of adoption of key farming systems practices by grain growers. It will inform the development of R,D>E and communication strategies that are targeted...

New projects from the GRDC

Crop sequences to manage soil pathogens and reduce the yield gap of northern grain production.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:30:00 GMT

The design of a cropping sequence or rotation is a complex process that is far more involved than selecting what crop to plant next. During the selection process a number of agronomic issue need to...

New projects from the GRDC

Pest suppressive landscapes: linking IPM and natural resource management

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

To understand how the population dynamics of grain pests are affected by landscape composition we will (i) identify reproduction habitats of pests and natural enemies, (ii) assess their movement...

New projects from the GRDC

Water use efficient farming systems for the Mallee

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The main outcome will be more Mallee growers using practices and strategies with greater WUE to increase whole-farm profitability, with greater capacity to sustain and improve WUE systems in the...

New projects from the GRDC

Grain and Graze 2 - National Integration

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Grain and Graze 2 is a research, development and extension program that aims to increase the water use efficiency of mixed crop/livestock systems and so to improve whole-farm profitability and...

New projects from the GRDC

Better prediction and management of Rhizoctonia disease risk in cereals

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The main objective of this project is to develop improved prediction and better management options for this disease. This will be achieved through identification of critical regulating factors...

New projects from the GRDC

Triple Rust Initiative

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Rust diseases continue to threaten cereal grain production in Australia and disease control currently relies heavily on breeding for disease resistance. This project will generate tools that allow...

New projects from the GRDC

Crown rot resistant bread wheat through new knowledge of epidemiology > genetics

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The ultimate outcome of the project will be new crown rot resistant bread wheat varieties and decision support tools to safeguard against potential loss of grain quality. Wheat growers throughout the...

New projects from the GRDC

Achievable yields for irrigated grains in the northern region

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:55:00 GMT

Growers and advisors will be more knowledgeable on the potential yield of wheat and sorghum under irrigated conditions, and the amount of water required to achieve these yields. By understanding the...

New projects from the GRDC

A fundamental understanding of biochar - implications and opportunities for the grains industry

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:40:00 GMT

Pressure to improve agricultural production benchmarks continues amidst increasing requirements to act as a custodian of the environment and to protect the soil resource. Increasing on-farm and...

New projects from the GRDC

More Good, less Bad and Ugly - Extracting additional value from grain production through selective harvesting

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:15:00 GMT

Australian grain growers are under increasing pressure due to declining terms of trade, rising fuel and fertilizer prices and drought. Hitherto, the main response to this has been to maintain...

New projects from the GRDC

Enhanced delivery of CIMMYT germplasm to Australia

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Wheat germplasm imported into Australia from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico has made significant, long-term contributions to the productivity and...

New projects from the GRDC

Enhancement of CIMMYT wheat breeding strategy for drought tolerance and genotypes of relevance to rainfed areas of Australia

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Achieving genetic progress for yield per se under drought is complicated by its low heritability and the many factors confounding selection including biotic and abiotic soil stresses and interaction...

New projects from the GRDC

Doing it better, doing it smarter-managing soil water in Australian agriculture

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Soil water and its management in Australian agriculture continue to increase in importance as the impacts of seasonal climate variability modify the conditions under which agriculture operates. The...

New projects from the GRDC

Reverse genetic analysis of novel genes for resistance to necrotrophic fungal pathogens in wheat and barley

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

One of the major challenges in pre-breeding research is to convert knowledge obtained in model plant systems into useful breeding tools to generate improved varieties of economically important crop...

New projects from the GRDC

'Overgrowth' mutants of wheat and barley: new sources of genetic variation for growth, yield and grain quality

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Glasshouse and field assessment of new overgrowth derivatives of barley (cv Sloop) and wheat (cv Maringa). Traits of most interest are germination and early growth, plant height, grain size and...

New projects from the GRDC

Maximizing crop yield in the HRZ of WA through efficient use of water and nutrients

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

This project will include research on both wheat and break crops. Wheat: The high rainfall agricultural zone of Western Australia has considerable crop yield potential driven by the higher rainfall...

New projects from the GRDC

Water Balance of Conservation Farming Systems in WA 2

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

This project builds on research funded by GRDC conducted by CSIRO and WANTFA from 2007-2009, and links closely with related research undertaken by WANTFA. Initially, trials were established in two...

New projects from the GRDC

Identification of wheat QTLs for maintenance of grain number under reproductive stage water stress conditions.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

This pre-breeding project will generate reliable drought-tolerant wheat lines and reliable screening methods that can be used for fine-mapping and marker design. The genetic regions (quantitative...

New projects from the GRDC

Finding the balance between frost tolerance and flowering time in wheat.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

In many regions of Australia sowing of wheat crops must be carefully timed to ensure flowering occurs late enough to avoid frost, but early enough to produce grain before water and heat stress become...

New projects from the GRDC

Increasing the capacity of wheat to extract phosphorus from soils.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

This project will use conventional physiology and breeding strategies to improve the phosphorus-use efficiency (PUE) of wheat. The strategy is based on the citrate release from roots. By the end of...

New projects from the GRDC

A molecular approach to unravel the dynamics of disease suppressive microbial communities

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Improved options for management of soilborne diseases through better identification, monitoring and management of disease suppression in the field through: 1. Identification of microbial signatures...

New projects from the GRDC

Manipulating biological processes that improve nitrogen supply to cereal crops: Free-living nitrogen fixing bacteria

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

The new information on the amount of N fixed by FLN bacteria would assist with better targeting of N fertilizer inputs leading to improvements in N-use efficiency. Estimations of FLN fixation will be...

New projects from the GRDC

Analysis of plant defence responses to the broad host range fungal pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani, using wheat and Arabidopsis

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Necrotrophic fungal pathogens comprise some of the world's most important crop diseases. However, plant resistance mechanisms against necrotrophs are poorly understood as resistance is usually...

New projects from the GRDC

Increasing water use efficiency in the northern sandplain region of WA

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

The target area for this project is located in the N/NE of the Western Australian wheat belt. The climate in this region is strongly Mediterranean with most of the rainfall occurring in the winter...

New projects from the GRDC

Novel solutions for managing non-wetting soils

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:55:00 GMT

The research will identify/develop a suite of practices to manage soil water repellency and maximise grain yields. This will be delivered to industry by: 1) a written review of current information...

New projects from the GRDC

Development of diagnostic markers capturing the range of allelic variation for major phenological adaptation genes in barley and wheat

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:50:00 GMT

Development of diagnostic markers capturing the range of allelic variation for major phenological adaptation genes in barley and wheat

New projects from the GRDC

Protecting the Australian wheat industry from the Wheat streak mosaic virus

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:50:00 GMT

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) causes significant losses to wheat especially in North America. In Australia, WSMV was first confirmed in 2003, though there is good evidence it has been present...

New projects from the GRDC

Fungicide Benchmarks

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:45:00 GMT

Fungicides are powerful and effective tools for controlling crop diseases caused by fungal and oomycete pathogens. About $250m worth of fungicides is used p.a. conferring $2000m worth of protection....

New projects from the GRDC

New strategies for phenotyping reproductive stage frost and chilling tolerance in wheat.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:45:00 GMT

The aim of the project is to develop phenotyping methods for the evaluation of chilling tolerance during flowering in wheat. A controlled environment screening method will be established based on...

New projects from the GRDC

Genetically Modified Canola Agronomy

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:25:00 GMT

This project aims to increase the knowledge and skills amongst farmers and advisers in the southern grains region in the key area of Genetically Modified Canola Agronomy (GMCA)

New projects from the GRDC

Enhancing the capability of the Australian grains industry to improve nutrient use efficiency ? a nationally co-ordinated systems approach

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:20:00 GMT

The recent escalation in the cost of both nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers has raised questions about their cost effectiveness and whether growers are using best practice for yield and...

New projects from the GRDC

Putting PA on the Ground in WA

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:15:00 GMT

Uptake of precision agriculture technologies is increasing slowly in WA. Leading growers are starting to use VRA for fertiliser. The adoption of GPS systems particularly for reducing input costs from...

New projects from the GRDC