Crop trials at scale, agronomy, nutritional profiling and breeding

The 2,440-hectare University of Melbourne Dookie campus enables trials and assessment of crops at scale. Both field and glasshouse facilities are available for work by industry, commercial or government partners.

Local scientific expertise enables breeding for desired genetic traits in crops, and a range of assessments including resource use efficiency, testing of crop cultivars for drought and heat stress performance and resistance to fungal diseases.

Please email Dr Dorin Gupta to discuss our services or for more information.

Crop pre-breeding and breeding

Pre-breeding and breeding protocols for broadacre crops for qualitative and quantitative trait assessment and trait introgression.

Using the conventional, high throughput and molecular techniques, we can provide:

• Identification of genotypes for desired traits from a diverse gene pool especially for lentil, chickpea and wheat
• Development of Recombinant Inbred Lines up to F6 in three years’ time.
• Additional information provides targeted gene(s) location on linkage map

This information allows to be identifying unique genes of interest which do not exist in current crop cultivars and development of new advanced breeding lines in half of the traditional time to be used in breeding programs.

Crop resource-use efficiency assessment

Comprehensive controlled and field-based experimentation can assess macro and micronutrient formulations, or other nutrient supplementations.

We offer assessments of resource use efficiency such as macro and micronutrient formulations, testing of crop cultivars for performance for drought and heat stress and fungal diseases (broadacre crops, annual horticulture and native crops)

Using controlled glasshouse and field experimental sites at Dookie campus, we provide in-depth assessments of feeds including information such as:

• Product testing: performance of different crops at different crop growth stages under controlled and field conditions over locations and years
• Nutritional profiling of crops
• Soil health assessment using DNA technology in collaboration with researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Parkville city campus
• Additional measures available on request.

Native Australian crops: Agronomy and nutritional profiling

There is a strong and growing interest int the use of native Australian crops for agricultural adaptation and the development of new products.

The scale and varied conditions at the Dookie campus allows for native crop demonstration sites to explore their adaptation and nutritional profiling for paddock-to-plate analysis. This includes:

• Semi-controlled and outdoor testing and demonstration sites for native crops
• Optimising agronomical management of native crops
• Detailed nutritional profiling of native crops.