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Dr Jim Virgona
BScAgr(Syd), PhD (ANU)
Position Senior Lecturer,
Agronomy
School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences
Location Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
Phone 02 6933 4174
Fax 02 6933 2812
Email jvirgona@csu.edu.au
Career Brief
Dr Virgona graduated from University of Sydney with BScAgr before completing a MSc through Macquarie University. He has a PhD from Australian National University, which focussed on genotypic variation in plant growth and water-use efficiency. He joined NSW Agriculture (now NSW Department of Primary Industries) as a research agronomist in 1991. While with NSW Agriculture his main areas of research were the management of permanent pastures and the sustainability of pasture/crop systems. In 2002 he took up a position as Senior Lecturer in agronomy at the School of Agriculture (now School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences).
Dr Virgona has significant research experience in field-based pasture research, with a broad range of research interests largely centred on grazing management, and pasture/crop production.
Research and Teaching
Dr Virgona has ongoing research dealing with grazing management of dual purpose crops, managing feedbase and livestock production in mixed farming systems and grazing to manipulate pasture composition. On a broader scale he also has contributed to the development of evidence-based agriculture.
Subject areas Dr Virgona teaches include Crop and Pasture Science (the basic physiology and ecology of crop and pasture systems), Crop Agronomy and Pasture Management.
Dr Virgona has an active interest in the supervision of Honours, Masters and PhD students.
Professional Links
- Member of the Research Committee of Farmlink P/L
- Member of Grassland Society of Southern Australia
- Member of the Australian Society for Agronomy
Interests
- Grazing management of native pastures
- Management and physiology of winter cereals in missed farming systems
- Genotype and management combinations for highly productive pasture and cropping systems
- Landscape approaches to pasture management and the effect of management on composition and yield
Selected Publications
McMullen KG and Virgona JM (2009). Dry matter production and grain yield from grazed wheat in southern New South Wales. Animal Production Science 49, 769-76.
Dear BS, Virgona JM, Sandral GA, Swan AD and Morris S (2009). Changes in soil mineral nitrogen, nitrogen leached, and surface pH under annual and perennial pasture species. Crop and Pasture Science 60: 975–986.
Waters C, Murray B, Melville G, Coates D, Young A and Virgona J (2010). Polyploidy and possible implication for the evolutionary history of some Australia Danthonieae. Australian Journal of Botany 58: 1-12.
Virgona JM and Daniel G (2011). Evidence-based agriculture: can we get there? Agricultural Science 23:19-25.
Kirkegaard JA, Sprague SJ, Lilley JM, McCormick JI, Virgona JM and Morrison MJ (2011). Physiological response of spring canola (Brassica napus) to defoliation in diverse environments. Field Crops Research 125: 61-68.