Investment

Annual average economic losses from heat damage in Australian wheat crops are estimated to be about $1.1billion. Climate models predict that in the grain belt of Australia the average temperature will increase by 2-3 C and rainfall will decrease by 20-30% in the next 20 years. Identification of heat tolerant barley varieties is therefore a priority.

Murdoch University, the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA), InterGrain, and Australian Grain technologies (AGT) have formed a consortium to investigate the potential genetic responses to heat stress in barley. This investment will identify effective new sources for heat tolerance, the physiological traits and associated phenotyping tools that correlate with heat tolerance, molecular markers or genes for heat tolerance and ultimately the delivery of barley varieties with improved heat tolerance to growers.