Department of Primary Industries | CSU Homepage
Seminar Series 2008
Preventing Abortion in Water Deficient Maize
| Time: Date: Venue: Presenter: |
12.00pm - 1.00pm Monday, 5 May 2008 Conference Rm, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute John S. Boyer, College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, USA |
J.S. Boyer DuPont Professor of Biochemistry/Biophysics, University of Delaware, has spent his career determining the mechanisms of losses in plant growth caused by drought and salinisation. He and his co-workers described new methods of measuring plant water potentials, discovered osmotic adjustment in dehydrating plants and growth-induced water potentials in rapidly growing plants, and determined many of the primary signals controlling plant enzyme activities and photosynthesis when drought occurs. The work has begun to explain the molecular causes of abortion under dry-land conditions in grain crops, which leads to losses in seed numbers. Recently, he and his student Ted Proseus discovered that calcium pectate controls the rate of cell enlargement and cell wall deposition in the plant Chara corallina.
NB: In conjunction with this seminar, Professor Boyer will be available (at the same venue) for scientific discussions on the following topics:
- Water and Nutrient-Use Efficiency (from 2.00pm - 3.30pm)
- Farming Systems and Agronomy (from 4.00pm - 5.00pm)
For further information about this seminar and Professor Boyer's visit, please contact:
- Prof Len Wade, lwade@csu.edu.au or tel (02) 6933 2523