Breeding investments

Crop breeding

We currently actively invest in nine breeding programs with a total annual spend of $10.7M in 2021-22.

Some breeding programs have transitioned to the private sector as capacity developed and crop size made our additional investment unnecessary, and in some cases was hindering further progress and attraction of private investment.

Wheat, barley, canola, sorghum, oats, durum and lupin breeding is currently undertaken by commercial entities. Conversely, chickpea, faba bean, field pea, lentil, milling oats, mungbean, peanut, soybean and vetch breeding is currently supported by GRDC.

When assessing current and future investments in crop breeding, we employ the following principles:

Invest where there is a genuine gap in the market - we do not have an appetite to compete with private sector breeding
Breeding programs are best placed to deliver profitable varieties that are competitive with other crop options for growers into the future
Breeding programs have the capacity, infrastructure and capability to carry out breeding in a manner that is commensurate with the scale of the crop and its potential growth and impact for Australian grain growers
Partner with the best
Resource appropriately
Implement the strategy that is right for that crop – not ‘one size fits all’.

Chickpea

Objectives/outcomes: The breeding priorities have been developed to address priority biotic and abiotic constraints in current production areas and expansion areas across Australia. The priorities include links to pre-breeding investments and international genetic resources. The breeding strategy also includes the development of novel herbicide-tolerant varieties to provide growers with increased rotational flexibility and weed management options.

Current partners: NSW DPI

Current investment (total): $30,000,000

Current investment (GRDC): $15,000,000

Current investment started: 02/03/2020

Current investment ends: 30/03/2025

Status: Contracted

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Faba bean

Objectives/outcomes: By 2023, an increased level of specific adaptation of varieties and elite breeding lines will be realised by the Faba Bean program. The new varieties will have higher yield potential (5-10%) than current Faba bean varieties, meet the required level of disease resistance for the targeted area of adaptation and be suited to food markets in the Middle East. This will contribute to the expansion of the Faba bean crop within current areas of production and extend the range of Faba bean production to new areas.

Faba bean is one of Australia's major cool season food legumes with production extending over a wide eco-geographic range with the major production area in the southern region (Victoria, South Australia) and a smaller area in the northern region (northern NSW and southern Queensland). These regions encompass a diversity of environments ranging from Mediterranean and Temperate environments to sub-tropical ones. As such, it is necessary to breed a number of varieties that have a broad range of adaptive traits in order to maintain yield stability and an adequate level of disease resistance.

This investment supports the Faba bean breeding program that is targeting a number of traits including heat, frost and resistance to a number of fungal and viral diseases (ascochyta blight, rust, chocolate spot, Cercospora leaf spot, bean leaf-roll virus (BLRV) and bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV)). In addition, breeding for tolerance to Group B herbicides has progressed to the stage where the tolerant variety PBA Bendoc was released in 2018.

Current partners: The University of Adelaide (lead), The University of Sydney, NSW DPI and SARDI.

Current investment (total): $14,698,830.30

Current investment (GRDC): $8,000,473.00

Current investment started: 01/07/2016

Current investment ends: 30/03/2023

Status: Contracted

Field pea

Lentil

Objectives/outcomes: New widely adapted high yielding varieties that have yield stability across a range of soils types and environments in existing and potential expansion Australian agro-ecological zones.

Current partners: Agriculture Victoria

Current investment (total): $28,000,000.00

Current investment (GRDC): $14,000,000.00

Current investment started: 18/05/2021

Current investment ends: 31/12/2025

Status: Contracted

Milling oats

Objectives/outcomes: The overall outcome from this research is the development and release new widely adapted higher yielding varieties that have yield stability across a range of Australian agroecological zones in existing and potential expansion areas.

The breeding program will aim to produce enhanced oat varieties with new combinations of quality traits such as β-glucan (min 4%), colour, groat percentage, hectolitre weight and protein content and novel disease resistance to Oat rusts, Septoria Leaf Blotch, Root lesion nematodes, Red Leather leaf disease and Cereal Cyst nematode. It will provide growers with a high value crop and ensure consistent supply of oat grain for domestic and export industries.

Current partners: InterGrain Pty Ltd

Current investment (total): $11,500,000

Current investment (GRDC): $2,700,000

Current investment started: 01/03/2021

Current investment ends: 30/03/2026

Status: Contracted

Mungbean

Objectives/outcomes: By 2026, contribute to the growth and reliability of Australian mungbean production to an average of 100,000 tonnes per year through the development of new widely adapted, higher yielding elite breeding lines of mungbean that maintain the current rate of genetic gain for yield; have increased yield stability and disease resistance; meet market requirements; and have adaptation across current production areas.

Current partners: QDAF

Current investment (total): $8,335,864.00

Current investment (GRDC): $3,577,663.00

Current investment started: 01/01/2022

Current investment ends: 30/09/2026

Status: Contracted

Peanut

Objectives/outcomes: This investment aims to release adapted and marketable varieties, from both overseas introductions and locally bred material, which will give peanut growers more varietal options to achieve higher kernel yields with desirable quality traits suited to the Australian and International (Korea, Japan and New Zealand) markets. This project will focus on developing high kernel yield, foliar disease tolerance, full season and early maturity cultivars to improve grower profitability. This is the final investment in transition of the breeding program to the private sector. At the completion of this investment, commercial arrangements for varieties to be made available to industry will be in place.

Current partners: Peanut Company of Australia (PCA), now owned by Bega; Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF)

Current investment (total): $3,473,687.00

Current investment (GRDC): $1,050,000.00

Current investment started: 01/07/2020

Current investment ends: 30/09/2023

Status: Contracted

Soybean

Objectives/outcomes: Development, evaluation and release of release of new Soybean varieties for the Australian marketplace .Expected benefits will be obtained through breeding activities which:

1) seek to improve productivity i.e. grain yield increased by ≥1.5 %p.a. and adaptation to different Target Production Zones within the tropics, sub-tropics and Riverina

2) achieve greater system efficiency and crop security through better disease resistance/tolerance, grain quality and weathering resistance.

Current partners: CSIRO and NSW DPI

Current investment (total): $5,592,610.00

Current investment (GRDC): $2,567,000.00

Current investment started: 01/07/2017

Current investment ends: 30/09/2022

Status: Under review

Vetch

Objectives/outcomes: By 2023, deliverr a sustainable vetch breeding effort which can deliver locally adapted varieties for Australian growers.

The aim of the National Vetch Breeding Program (NVBP) is to provide Australian farmers with a range of varieties for both common and woolly pod vetch, to enable choice of varieties according to the rotational requirements of a given season or system. More profitable and sustainable mixed farming and cropping industries will be strengthened by higher yielding, stable and robust vetch varieties which can provide nitrogen to the soil, an opportunity to control herbicide resistant grass weeds and a disease break for cereal crops in addition to high quality grain and fodder.

Improved genetically diverse vetch germplasm is being developed with improvements in the following traits:

Yield stability across seasonal conditions
Tolerance to abiotic stresses, including low pH soils, drought, salinity, frost and high temperatures during the reproductive phase of plant development
Disease resistance/ tolerance
Seed softness (for woolly pod vetch)
Improved early growth and vigour
Diversity of maturity timing.

The productivity and profitability of Australian farms will be increased through the delivery of new more easily managed vetch varieties with improved yields (3-5%) of both grain and hay, with yield stability and good grain and hay quality across different environments. This is particularly important for low rainfall marginal mixed farming areas which currently have no reliable legume options in their rotations. Breeding vetch varieties for these areas is a priority for the breeding program. The varieties bred in this project will have the traits necessary to deliver improved vetch crops with the potential to expand vetch production into areas where vetch has not been traditionally grown.

Current partners: The University of Adelaide

Current investment (total): $1,551,032.00

Current investment (GRDC): $1,075,000.00

Current investment started: 19/04/2021

Current investment ends: 19/04/2023

Status: Contracted

Crop breeding investments are managed by the Genetic Technologies Team.

Please contact us for enquiries.

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