Australia
January 6, 2011
Cereal wheat varieties geared towards enhanced production in drought years provided valuable results in a very wet 2010 at a Grains Research and Development Corporation-funded managed environment facility at Yanco (photo) in southern New South Wales.
The Yanco managed environment facility, one of three in Australia, has been established to enable researchers to reproduce carefully-controlled drought conditions.
Across 800 trial plots spanning two hectares, 350 wheat varieties, lines and germplasm containing new and existing traits are being trialled for improved production in dry years.
The site received above average rainfall in 2010 – well ahead of its 250-300mm yearly average. New rainout shelters will be available in 2011 to help provide droughts even in wet years.
“Very wet years give researchers the opportunity to check if any of the germplasm, varieties or traits have any costs or penalties in more favourable, wetter years,” Dr Greg Rebetzke, CSIRO geneticist, said.
“Many of the characteristics that have been previously reported for improving performance under drought are targeting survival and therefore perform well in very, very dry years, but don’t have the capacity to perform well in more favourable years when rainfall is higher and returns to growers are expected to be greater.
“These wet years are really important to our research.”
Lines which have responded more favourably – including those selected for reduced tillering and greater transpiration efficiency – have yielded around six tonnes to the hectare.
The crops benefited last year from cool temperatures and rain falling at the right time throughout grain-filling.”
Understanding yield potential of a wheat variety in seasons spanning drought to very wet was extremely important to growers, Dr Rebetzke said.
“It is not atypical to experience large changes in rainfall from one year to the next; this therefore becomes a challenge to breeders who are selecting varieties that are broadly performing.”
On the ground:
Harvest at the Yanco site finished in mid-December and researchers are currently assessing frost damage and lodging, according to Dr Rebetzke.
Disease has/was successfully managed, in particular rust, but with luxuriant growth, some lodging occurred. A late frost also meant some lines had lost up to 15 per cent of their grain.
Variation in water-use efficiency and increased stem carbohydrates have been identified in existing and new commercial varieties.
The Yanco site has received a technological upgrade through the deployment of ’Phenonet’ wireless sensor network tools for remote recording of soil water and canopy temperature.
Measurements of canopy temperature are made every 15 minutes and soil water is measured every hour at six depths down to 150 centimetres. The data is made available on the internet for real-time viewing.
This technology will allow scientists to look at different varieties and assess differences in water use by the crop from anywhere in the world using the internet.
“Grain growers can expect trial results and analysis from March 2011,” Dr Rebetzke said.
Plantings this year will be extended to include lines with increased coleoptile length, and modification of head and leaf architecture.
The site which is coordinated by Industry & Investment NSW is being extended to up to four hectares and planted to a break crop to provide a uniform disease-free trial site for use over the next few years.
Species
