ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Wheat in a Hot Dry Climate

Who We Are & Key Research Areas

The Australian Research Council Research Hub for Wheat in a Hot and Dry Climate ran from 2015 until 2020. The Hub brought wheat researchers and Australia’s three major wheat breeding companies together, to exploit global diversity for wheat and advanced genomic technologies for faster development of heat and drought tolerant varieties which make better use of nitrogen fertiliser.

The four key research areas of the hub:

1. 1. Drought and heat tolerance
   2. Germplasm development for genetic diversity
   3. High throughput phenotyping tools
   4. Linkage of yield and grain nitrogen

The research hub was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Research Hubs scheme, as well as the Grains Research and Development Corporation. The following breeding companies, universities and institute were hub partners:

• • • Australian Grain Technologies
    • LongReach Plant Breeders
    • Intergrain
    • University of Adelaide
    • University of Sydney
    • University of South Australia
    • Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics

Our Mission & Vision

Our mission was to enhance productivity and secure high grain quality of wheat in the hot and dry Australian climate. We fully accomplished our set goals, which included:

• • • Develop wheat with combined heat and drought tolerance by advancing existing knowledge and technologies and transferring wheat material and knowhow to breeding programmes
    • Elucidate mechanisms and molecular markers for combined heat and drought tolerance by exploring genetic diversity in wheat
    • Identify mechanisms and genetic diversity for high yielding wheat with efficient nitrogen recycling and high grain protein.
    • Build human capacity in molecular breeding and providing breeders access to the latest scientific developments and technologies.
    • Develop and test high-throughput field phenotyping tools for Australian breeders

Associate Professor Stuart Roy started a new position as Deputy Director – Industry for the new 2021 ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Accelerated Future Crop Development.