Victorian scientists have discovered antifreeze genes in a unique grass from Antarctica that could mean millions of extra dollars in farmers' pockets, Minister for Innovation John Brumby announced today at BIO2006 in Chicago.

Department of Primary Industries (DPI) scientists based at the new state-of-the-art Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre have uncovered genes in Antarctic Hairgrass giving the plant the remarkable ability to inhibit ice crystal growth as a mechanism for freezing tolerance.

Mr. Brumby said the findings have major implications for improving frost tolerance in crop and pasture species that underpin the world's agriculture industries.

"Over the next few years we should see the development and application of technologies for frost tolerance in crops based on the knowledge gained from the functional analysis of these antifreeze genes," said Mr. Brumby.

Globally, five to 15 per cent of agricultural production is lost to frost each year and in the USA there are more economic losses to frost than any other weather-related phenomenon.

Victorian Minister for Agriculture, Bob Cameron, said on average frost caused production losses of just under $140 million a year in Victoria and South Australia's wheat and barley crops alone.

He said Antarctic Hairgrass was one of only two vascular plants and the sole grass species to colonise the Antarctic Peninsula.

"It survives temperatures as low as minus 30C and winters with little or no light," Mr. Cameron said.

"DPI scientists have been able to identify related genes in temperate grasses such as ryegrass, and by comparing them with the Antarctic grass's ice recrystallisation inhibition genes have established the technological basis for strategies to improve frost tolerance in some crop and pasture species."

Initially funded as part of the Victorian Government Science and Technology Initiative, this research is now undertaken within the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics funded by the Australian Research Council and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.