AUSTRALIA- The Grains Research & Development Corp. (GRDC), alongside the Australian National University (ANU) and other industry partners, has unveiled a substantial US$1.9 million investment to accelerate climate-resistant wheat crop development and combat the escalating challenges posed by climate change.
This ambitious three-year initiative is poised to spearhead advancements in heat-tolerant wheat genetics, while concurrently unraveling the intricate mechanisms underpinning a wheat crop’s resilience, growth, and yield optimization in the face of soaring temperatures.
Professor Owen Atkin, the esteemed director of the Agrifood Innovation Institute at ANU, underscored the stark reality of escalating global temperatures, which have already begun to wreak havoc on crop yields across vital food-producing regions, both domestically in Australia and abroad.
“In recent times, the specter of heat waves induced by global warming has cast a long shadow over wheat production, not only within Australia but worldwide,” Atkin remarked. “With every incremental rise in the global mean temperature, a corresponding 6% to 10% decrease in wheat yields looms ominously. Such projections are deeply disconcerting, especially considering the urgent imperative to bolster Australia’s crop productivity in alignment with the burgeoning global populace.”
Prameela Vanambathina, the genetic technologies manager at GRDC, shed light on the pivotal role of leaf carbon exchange in expediting research outcomes.
“Leaf carbon exchange, a critical amalgamation of photosynthesis and respiration processes, remains a focal point of inquiry. High temperatures precipitate a domino effect, hastening wheat development, impeding flower maturation, and diminishing photosynthetic efficiency, thereby stunting plant growth and compromising yields,” Vanambathina elucidated.
Australia, among the world’s foremost wheat producers and exporters, grapples with a climate uniquely susceptible to drought. The country weathered a protracted three-year drought in the late 2010s, yielding crops of 20 million tonnes, 17 million, and 14 million, all significantly below the 10-year average.
Despite a landmark 40 million-year harvest in the 2022-23 marketing year, the specter of drier conditions looms large, with projections for the 2023-24 crop revised downward to 25 million tonnes owing to adverse weather patterns.
Against this backdrop of climatic volatility, the collective investment in pioneering research endeavors represents a beacon of hope for fortifying agricultural resilience and charting a sustainable trajectory for the future of wheat cultivation in Australia and beyond.
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