RESEARCH at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on improving competitive advantages for Queensland's mungbean and chickpea growers is gaining ground.
At a recent Australian Mungbean Association (AMA) meeting, industry stakeholders toured the QUT facility and AMA president Rob Anderson was impressed with the variety of work.
Led by Professor Sagadevan Mundree at the Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities and funded by a $4.8 million state government research grant, the work is leading the way in genetic crop improvement (breeding, pre-breeding, biotechnology), improving drought and heat tolerance of tropical pulse varieties and enhancing disease resistance and farm management practices.
"Some of our research will have immediate impacts on the mungbean and chickpea industries in Queensland while the benefits of other projects will be realised in the short to mid term," Professor Mundree said.
A promising project that may deliver immediate benefits to growers is a chemical pre-treatment of seeds that has proven successful in tissue culture and glasshouse trials.
A field validation of the treatment of mungbean seeds has been completed over summer and a similar trial with chickpeas is being planted this winter.
"Until all the data is analysed, we are being very cautious but the seed treatment does seem promising and, if validated in the field, could possibly be commercially available to industry for next season," he said.
"The aim of the seed treatment is to improve root growth and extend the root/soil interface so the plants can access more of the available moisture and nutrients.
"This technology has been used for many years to assist plant establishment in forestry and mine rehabilitation situations and has important implications for yield and reliability of pulse cropping in adverse seasons."
Professor Mundree said the researchers were analysing data following the mungbean harvest at the Hermitage Research Facility and will gather aerial infrared imagery of the chickpea crops growing at Goondiwindi and Roma over winter.
Other project work under the Tropical Pulses for Queensland project at QUT will enhance the plant breeding work of the National Mungbean Improvement Program (NMIP), a joint initiative of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and GRDC.
This collaboration will see new genomics and technology applied to mungbeans to understand the diversity of recently imported germplasm and help identify traits that can be used in the breeding program for drought-tolerance, tolerance to heat at flowering and various diseases.
The project is capitalising on the computer modelling sorghum breeders have used very successfully at DAFF’s Plant Breeding Centre of Excellence at Hermitage Research Facility.
The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) assists researchers as they bring together plant breeding, plant physiology and crop agronomy to develop growing guides for farmers.
Professor Mundree hopes new varieties will be developed that are suited to more soil and climatic conditions than current varieties and new agronomy practices are likely to be required.
“The capability of APSIM and the information from the world-first Nested Association Mapping populations provides excellent genetic data to inform the plant breeding program,” he said.
“In addition to yield and adaptation traits we are also aiming to increase the nutritional value of these already protein-rich grains with increased iron content.”
DAFF pulse plant breeder Col Douglas said future increases in mungbean yield over varieties such as Crystal and Jade-AU would come from combining new technologies with traditional breeding methods.
"Understanding the physiological processes inside the plant, or 'how mungbeans work', as well as access to new breeding technologies are critical for us to better the previous yield gains of Crystal and Jade-AU.
"We are also looking at new ways to speed up the plant breeding," he said.
