Heat-tolerant wheat varieties receive millions in funding

Southern NSW farmers and agronomists have welcomed a significant investment into heat-tolerant or climate-resistant crop varieties.

Agronomists and farmers have welcomed a significant investment into heat-tolerant or climate-resistant crop varieties.

At the recent Grains Research and Development Corporation update event in Wagga Wagga, in southern NSW, growers learned about a $1.9 million investment into climate-resistant crops.

Agronomist Frank McRae of Orange in the NSW Central West said farmers needed access to varieties that could withstand variability in climate.

“Our farming systems are changing, and we are seeing more areas in lower rainfall zones,” he said.

“Systems change and how we manage crops in this climate is changing too,” he said.

Mr McRae said there had been a pattern of lower rainfall and hotter spring temperatures during the crucial grain-fill stage.

He said the announcement regarding varieties at the update in Wagga Wagga would ultimately help growers throughout the world and not just domestically. Mr McRae said all crop-growing countries were facing the challenges associated with warmer temperatures.

Agronomist Frank McRae of DLF seeds at Orange is pictured at the Henty Machinery Field Days. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

The announcement means research and development will focus on heat-tolerant wheat genetics and finding varieties that can produce higher yields under high-temperature conditions.

Director of the Agrifood Innovation Institute (AFII) at ANU, Professor Owen Atkin, said every time there was a one-degree increase in the global mean temperature, it resulted in a 10 per cent decrease in wheat yields.

GRDC genetic technologies manager Prameela Vanambathina said there were still questions to be answered regarding leaf carbon exchange and how that would play out in the future.

Leaf carbon is linked to photosynthesis and respiration.

The research being undertaken by the ANU-led team – in partnership with the University of Sydney, the University of New England, the University of Western Australia, InterGrain and overseas partners – will aim to understand the genetic basis for heat tolerance in wheat crops so that ultimately, producers will have access to more heat-resistant varieties.