Crop Production and Biosecurity
We are underpinning food production, protection and quality through translating high-end biotechnology and sustainable management technologies. This is addressed at all levels, from soil management through to the production and protection of food products:
- Ecosystem and soil health
- Improving nitrogen fixation in forage crops
- Transgenic plants
- Genomic and comparative genomics of crops and pests
- Gene discovery
- Developing better combinations of genes using marker-assisted selection
- Developing new forms of resistance to pests and diseases
- Improving the quality of grains and horticultural produce
- Crop biosecurity and post harvest storage to reducing handling losses
- Dealing with climate variation
Key questions in this research theme include:
- How can we improve soil management to maximize crop productivity?
- How can we increase our understanding of soil micro-organisms and their contribution to crop productivity?
- How can we increase nitrogen fixation in forage and grain legumes?
- How can we increase crop yields and grain quality by increasing water and nutrient use efficiency?
- Can we increase sustainable crop production by further reducing losses from pests and diseases (fungi, viruses, nematodes, aphids)?
- How to safely use chemicals along the supply/value chain – management of resistance, residues, OHS&E issues, development alternatives and regulatory?
- Can we improve quarantine and pre-shipment treatment for safeguarding trade?
- How can we make the best use of new genomic technologies for improving grain quality and crop yield?
- Can we develop new diagnostic tools and policies to support crop biosecurity?
- Can we reduce losses and waste in the food handling chain?
- Can we reduce the environmental impact of farming?
- Can we manage pests in post-harvest storage, handling and transportation in a sustainable way?
- Can we improve our understanding of the global trade and transportation networks to effectively combat the spread of pests and diseases?
- How to manage exotic invasive species pests, pathogens and weeds?
Our key approaches and tools include:
- Advanced molecular technologies - next generation sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics - combined with bioinformatics
- Growth chamber and glasshouse trials
- Field based research and population monitoring
- Traditional and molecular plant breeding strategies
