Australia
March 2, 2016

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has demonstrated its commitment to cultivating the careers of young grains industry scientists, awarding a travel bursary to Sydney University research fellow Dr Philip Davies.

The GRDC Emerging Leader Award was announced at last night’s GRDC Update dinner in Goondiwindi.

Based at Sydney University’s Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) at Narrabri, Dr Davies is now playing a leading role in GRDC-funded crown rot pre-breeding research which assesses the performance of individual breeding lines under crown rot conditions and paves the way for the development of varieties with enhanced crown rot resistance and tolerance.

Crown rot is caused by the fungus Fusarium pseudograminearum and is one of the most serious disease threats to winter cereal crops in Australia costing northern growers around $80 million on average each year.

GRDC northern panel chair James Clark said the award recognised Dr Davies’ enormous contribution to progressing genetic solutions to crown rot and communicating the importance and progress of the pre-breeding programs to the wider industry.

“Dr Davies is a great example of GRDC’s funding of succession plans within industry and he’s continuing the work and techniques that were previously developed by his mentor Dr Richard Trethowan,” Mr Clark said.

“Crown rot poses a serious challenge to the productivity and profitability of growers across New South Wales and Queensland.

“Combatting this challenge requires a two-pronged attack – the development of germplasm with enhanced crown rot tolerance and resistance that can be delivered to commercial breeding companies, and improving crown rot management through targeted agronomy practices.

“On-going research into these two areas is critical because it offers growers the best opportunity of managing the productive and financial impost of crown rot into the future.

“Researchers like Dr Davies will play a key role in the industry’s future management of crown rot and GRDC has a responsibility to ensure that these researchers are well supported in their endeavours.”

After graduating with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Sydney University in 2006, Dr Davies completed a PhD titled “Fusarium head blight: Epidemiology and Host Resistance” and then accepted a GRDC-funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship at PBI.

He has previously been involved in several research projects including investigation into the influence of agronomic practices on the aetiology and epidemiology of Fusarium head blight in northern NSW, and establishing the epidemiological relationship between crown rot and Fusarium head blight pathogens.

Dr Davies’ current research projects include developing wheat germplasm with improved resistance and tolerance to crown rot of wheat using a Marker Assisted Recurrent Selection strategy, and investigating the role of zinc in enhancing tolerance to crown rot.

Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: March 2, 2016