GRAIN BIOTECH AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD.
P.O. Box 136, Joondalup, Western Australia 6919, Australia.
Ian B. Edwards, Nick Gosman, Steven Brown, Lola Topsom, and Simon Tideswell.
GBA was formed in October 1998 and is Australia's first private company to have a national focus that fully integrates molecular biology with applied wheat breeding. The company is predominantly grower-funded and is focussed on all Australian wheat market classes, including durum wheat. The biotechnology team consists of three permanent Ph.D.-level scientists, three research technicians, and a postdoctoral position with accompanying support. Two genes have been stably inserted into Australian wheat varieties (BYDV resistance and a neutraceutical gene), and field-testing will begin this year. Work is underway on abiotic stress-resistance genes. Access to a genomics program has come about through an alliance with Crop Design of Ghent, Belgium, and several other technology alliances are in place. The team is located at the State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Murdoch University, Perth.
The breeding team has two plant breeders and three research technicians. The team is located at the University of Western Australia's facility at Shenton Park, Perth, and there are an additional six test locations in the Western Australian wheat belt, four in South Australia, and four in New South Wales.
The first products in wide area testing (14 locations) are hard wheats and have been evaluated by the rust research program at the University of Sydney, Cobbitty. These wheats have resistance to local races of leaf, stem, and stripe rust. Preliminary quality tests were conducted on the 2000 trials.
The durum program is the major strategic thrust of our wheat-breeding effort. The market potential is growing rapidly and focus is on semolina color, gluten strength, and protein in excess of 12 percent. At present, yield performance of most durum varieties lags behind that of bread wheat, and significant opportunities for improvement exist. We have alliances with three international durum programs.
A modified starch program is underway, utilizing the waxy genes, and marker-assisted selection is used in targeted crosses. A prime target is the Japanese udon noodle-wheat market. Biscuit and noodle wheats are an integral part of the overall soft wheat breeding effort.
The hard wheat program is aimed at the 'prime hard' and 'hard' wheat market classes. With the ight-textured soils in Western Australia, improvement in protein level is a major objective. Stronger efforts also are needed on extensograph resistance (R max) and on Minolta L values.
The DH program is a routine part of operations and has enabled the program to move ahead rapidly in targeted crosses, with specific F2 plants in selected populations targeted for the program. A summer (off-season) nursery also is used to speed product-development time. The program is on a 6-year cycle from cross to release if parental seed.
Dr. Nick Gosman joined our staffnin July, 2001, after completing his Ph.D. studies at the John Innes Institute, Norwich, England. He sycceeds Dr. Chao Yin Liu, who left to pursue further studies in computer science.