Commercial grade genetically modified (GM) cereal crops have yet to become a reality in WA but the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) believes the key to changing that could be found in the shared genetic pathway which sees frost and drought affect crops in the paddock.
Speaking at last week's Agrifood Awareness Australia and Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) GM traits and varieties forum, ACPFG research fellow Andrew Jacobs said similar genetic pathways taken by frost and drought within cereal plants meant frost could be considered a drought-related stress and further work might see frost and drought tolerant varieties become available in the next 10-15 years.
He provided hope by telling growers Japanese research teams had already produced a number of moderately frost-tolerant varieties by isolating genes and discovering how to introduce them into barley varieties by creating diagnostic markers.
With its $11 million budget, the ACPFG focused its research heavily on stress tolerance in wheat and barley varieties but with limited experience in the deregulated market and different types of germplasm from its overseas research counterparts the centre needed to rely heavily on collaboration within the public and private sectors, both in Australia and abroad.
He said more than 150 million hectares of biotech crops were grown globally and in defence of the technology he highlighted the hectares planted to such crops were on a steady increase.
"Despite what biotechnology naysayers say the world wouldn't have witnessed such an increase if there was no benefit to planting them," Mr Jacobs said.
"There are 29 nations which grow biotech crops of soy, cotton, canola and corn."
Mr Jacobs said a combination of two biotech approaches, forward genetics and reverse genetics, would also help to maintain yield in adverse environments.
The ACPFG's most recent work in Australia tested plant populations in low yielding environments to document drought responses.
Copyright © 2011. Fairfax Media.
