Australia
April 20, 2007
Australian sunflowers are the
newest addition to a major seed bank in the United States,
helping researchers to find varieties that are resistant to
diseases and insects that impact production around the world.
American botanist Gerard Seiler and pathologist Tom Gulya
recently spent weeks travelling across the country collecting
seeds, accompanied by Gary Kong from the
Queensland Department of
Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F).
Dr Kong used the trip to collect disease samples to help with
research into rust pathogens being carried out by the DPI&F with
support from the Grains Research and
Development Corporation (GRDC) and in close collaboration
with Pacific Seeds.
"While sunflowers are only grown commercially in Queensland and
northern New South Wales these days, there were small industries
in WA, SA and Victoria many years ago," Dr Kong said.
"Some wild populations may have originated from commercial
varieties. However, many populations are found in areas where
sunflower has never been grown commercially and disease records
suggest a history as old as 150 years."
Plant species growing in isolation and in different environments
adapt and evolve over time and the US scientists are interested
in the genetic diversity that may have developed in the
Australian wild sunflower over the past 150 years.
"The ultimate aim of their trip is gene mining, to see what
characteristics can be used to help breed new varieties with
greater resistance to rust, other diseases and insect pests."
The seeds have been taken to the Northern Crops Research
Institute in North Dakota, which is devoted entirely to
sunflowers. The germplasm will then be lodged with the Northern
Region Plant Introduction Station and will be freely available
to sunflower breeders all over the world.
Dr Kong and his team will use the rust samples taken during the
10,000 km trip to continue building their database and
understanding of the development of new races of the rust
pathogen. This information is vital for research toward the
development of sunflower varieties with longer-lasting
resistance to the ever-changing rust disease. |
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