The Grains Council of
Australia's Grains Week program will highlight the most
important domestic and international issues faced by the
grains industry.
Researchers will apply modern technology to conventional
wheat breeding methods to meet yield challenges threatening
Australia’s grains industry.
CSIRO Plant Industry’s
Dr Richard Richards says it is anticipated that the
development of new wheat varieties would increase annual
yield by two per cent, thereby upholding current
profitability levels.
He says collaborative
research efforts led by the CSIRO and Australia’s Grains
Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) would create new
wheat cultivars through the application of physiology and
biotechnology to traditional breeding methods.
'While conventional
breeding methods will remain the cornerstone of plant
improvement in Australia’s wheat industry, new varieties
will evolve as a result of research to enhance grain yield
and the genetic protection against diseases while retaining
or improving grain quality,' Dr Richards says.
In other approaches,
contemporary breeding methods using molecular and
physiological tools would produce new wheat varieties that
would be available to farmers more rapidly than before.
New wheat genetic material
containing yield enhancing traits from overseas sources is
also being introduced into Australia and will be widely used
in breeding programs to overcome genetic weaknesses and
abiotic limitations including environmental conditions.
Dr Richards will discuss
breeding options to increase Australian wheat yields at the
Grains Week 2006 Research Symposium in Canberra on April 6.
He will discuss:
-
conventional and
contemporary wheat breeding methods;
-
key national and
regional players in the wheat breeding contest; and
-
new yield enhancing
traits that will be introduced into improved wheat
varieties.