CSIRO and GRDC team up to study grain crop problems

CSIRO Entomology and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) have signed a $20 million agreement for a research alliance focusing on the pests and diseases affecting Australia's grain industries.

The collaboration, slated to last for five years in the first instance, is a joint investment by the two groups.

According to CSIRO CEO Dr Geoff Garrett, the aim of the alliance is to provide more effective, environmentally sensitive and longer term crop protection options for the Australian grain industry, allowing Australia to maintain its competitive edge as a high quality grains producer.

"We'll be taking existing 'know-how' through early stage research, and converting it to a suite of valuable intellectual property for industry applications and use in the future," said Garrett.

"The agreement demonstrates the willingness of major Australian organisations, such as CSIRO and GRDC, to collaborate in the discovery of strategically important solutions to areas of national interest," said Prof John Lovett, Managing Director of the GRDC.

Project co-ordinator Dr Peter East, from CSIRO Entomology, said that a mixture of biotechnology approaches would be used by researchers to develop solutions for the industry.

"The research will be targeting a number of the major insect pests of grain crops. It will also have some focus on fungal diseases and herbicide tolerance," he said.

East explained that some of the research would look at identifying resistance genes for pests and diseases and would investigate natural host resistance mechanisms in crop plants and their wild relatives.

Molecular markers for marker assisted breeding strategies would be one outcome of the research, but the scientists would also be looking for a better understanding of the biochemical and physiological aspects of resistance mechanisms, he said.

"There is an evolutionary arms race between insects and the host plants," East said, explaining that a better understanding of the processes involved could eventually result in improved pest management techniques.