Investment

Substantial international effort and investment has been directed to fundamental research on plant physiological and biochemical processes in wheat, with the view that their optimisation would lead to transformational yield improvements. However, the link between the traits and yield, and their interaction with the environment, have not been clearly demonstrated. This project aims at facilitating the validation of physiological and/or biochemical traits in wheat through establishment of R&D partnerships between academic researchers and a commercial wheat breeding company. The overall aim is to accelerate the adoption of the most valuable traits by Australian wheat breeding programs, and the delivery to Australian growers of wheat varieties with significantly enhanced water-limited yield potential.

This project represents a reinvention of the pre-breeding model by employing an agile and nimble approach to solving a complex set of problems. In an industry partnership approach, we will examine and evaluate a breadth of physiology-based traits related to early growth/establishment, photosynthesis and yield that have been shown to have a positive impact in water limited conditions. Using a decision tree with existing data generated by partner researchers, and existing knowledge regarding breeding systems, the output of phase 1 will be the selection of one or more putative high impact traits to be validated. Phase 2 will implement accelerated trait validation strategies by integrating and analysing data from AGT wheat breeding programs and partner researchers.