Crawley, Western Australia
July 31, 2008
Declining global biodiversity,
which threatens plant genetic diversity and therefore the raw
materials humans rely on for food, fibre, fuel, medicine and
industrial products, has led to a far ranging collaborative
research project between The
University of Western Australia (UWA) and
Sultan Qaboos University
(SQU) in the Sultanate of Oman.
A 2004 visit by UWA’s Professor Alistar Robertson, then Dean of
the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (FNAS) and
Professor Kadambot Siddique, Chair in Agriculture and Director
of the Institute of Agriculture, established links with SQU.
Subsequent collaboration has involved staff exchanges, joint
scientific projects and two recent internships for Omani
students.
The six week internships for two outstanding undergraduates
majoring in crop sciences at SQU, were organised by Dr Michael
Walsh, Senior Research Fellow at UWA’s Western Australian
Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI), while he was on
sabbatical in Oman.
Based on their academic excellence, Ruqaiya Al-Mas’oudi and Safa
Al-Hinaai were accepted for training at UWA with FNAS
researchers.
Ms Al-Mas’oudi, supervised by Dr Walsh, conducted whole plant
screening to establish the true extent of bromoxynil herbicide
resistance in a wild radish population collected from WA’s
grainbelt.
She was also exposed to molecular based research on ryegrass
herbicide resistance and visited the grainbelt to learn about WA
broadacre cropping.
Ms Al-Hinaai, supervised by Dr Heather Clarke, Senior Research
Fellow at the UWA based Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean
Agriculture (CLIMA), made wide crosses between cultivated
chickpea and some of its wild annual relatives from the Middle
East.
Tissue culture technology was used to rescue hybrid embryos in
the laboratory at UWA.
Ms Al-Hinaai investigated how different components of the
artificial medium could be adjusted to manipulate hybrid growth
and development and used DNA-based techniques to test
‘hybridity’.
Dr Clarke said FNAS staff had enjoyed working with the Omani
students and learning about life in Oman.
“We hope they will return to UWA as postgraduate students in the
near future,” she said.
Collaboration between UWA and SQU continues, with a joint
project titled “Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Resources
in Oman”, which began in 2007. It is supported by funding from
His Majesty the Sultan of Oman.
Professor Siddique said the project’s major aim was conserving
indigenous plant germplasm, vital to developing new varieties
and improving existing agricultural and medicinal plant species.
“Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture provide the
biological basis for world food security and support the
livelihood of every human,” he said.
“These resources serve as the plant breeder’s most important raw
material to develop new varieties and the farmer’s most
essential input.
“They are therefore essential for sustainable agricultural
production and will provide us with useful information on local
germplasm for breeders to use in Oman and Australia in future
crop and pasture improvement projects.
“The project will also train postgraduate students, scientists
and technicians in conservation, characterisation and molecular
approaches of plant genetic resources,” Professor Siddique said.
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