.

Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPBCRC) has been awarded an Award for Excellence in Innovation from the Cooperative Research Centre Association.

The Cross Outcome Prediction project is a new technology that is saving wheat breeders millions of dollars by speeding up the process.

Developed by researchers at MPBCRC, the award-winning technology allows breeders to quickly assess the success of crossing different varieties of wheat.

"Wheat breeding is a expensive process which tries to use genetics to improve grain yield, disease resistance and the processing quality of wheat. Our technology allows plant breeders to do this in a shorter amount of time, saving both time and money", explains Dr Glenn Tong, CEO of MPBCRC.

"Over ten thousand combinations of genes can be predicted using this tool. This allows breeding programs to focus on improving the international competitiveness of Australian wheat".

The technology uses genetic information and complex mathematics to generate information on the success of cross breeding plant varieties. Traditional plant breeding could talk as long as 15 years between the initial cross and the final release to farmers. The new technology reduces the need to perform as many crosses cutting the time required.

The tool is now used regularly by many of Australia's largest wheat breeding programs. Dr Tong says the research provides significant benefits to farmers.

"Improvements in yield and disease resistance will be delivered sooner thanks to this tool. This will help out farmers secure food production in the future".

Information used in the technology was gathered from plant breeders and research groups using MPBCRC's collaborative partners. Dr Howard Eagles, MPBCRC research leader, says this sharing of information is crucial to achieving the best outcomes.

"There is huge potential to expand our accuracy and extend the prediction to more and more genes. We're only limited by our capacity to access new sources of genetic information. Being part of MPBCRC means that we have these relationships already established, and so we can make advances faster," Dr Eagles explained.

MPBCRC is a Cooperative Research Centre established under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program.

The news item on this page is copyright by the organization where it originated - Fair use notice

Other news from this source