Australia invests in frost-resistant crop research

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) announced on Nov. 25 that the agency would increase its research efforts in frost-tolerant crop research.

Frost damage is estimated to cost the Western Australia grains industry more than $250 million a year. To address the problem, GRDC has convened Australia's leading frost researchers, agronomists and research collaborators together in Perth to set a new direction for frost research Australia-wide.

Last year a late September frost event over a large proportion of the Western Australia wheatbelt resulted in direct yield losses of more than A$100 million, GRDC said.

Neil Young, GRDC western panel chair says economic losses to the Australian winter grains industry are the result of direct yield losses, quality downgrading and indirect losses through delayed seeding to reduce frost risk. He said farmers in Western Australia rank frost as their second biggest problem behind disease. Young said frosts are likely to become more severe as Western Australia is forecast to have dryer springs with less cloud cover.

"Frost-proof wheat, barley, pulse and oilseed varieties are the ultimate aim," Young said. "In the short term the forum was aimed to get researchers together to share information, swap ideas and understand who else is working in the area.

Dr. Juan Juttner, GRDC manager gene discovery said the agency has invested about A$10 million in frost research aimed at variety improvement during the last decade but slow genetic progress reflects the trait complexity. He said that progress has been made using crop management strategies, but genetic solutions such as varieties with improved reproductive frost tolerance has been slow.

"The limited natural sources of frost tolerance available to researchers and plant breeders, and the need to phenotype plants in a highly dynamic field environment, complicates efforts to develop improved varieties," Dr Juttner said. "GRDC and its research partners have a long history of investing in research to identify solutions to improving the frost tolerance of grain crops, including genetic and agronomic approaches."