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Felicity Harris (nee Gummer)

PhD Student
School School of Agricultural and Wine Science
Location Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
Phone 02 6933 2749
Fax 02 6933 2812
Email fharris@csu.edu.au

 

Project

The relationship between vigour and earliness in cereals

Summary

Amongst the best performing varieties of various cereal species, there is a positive relationship between vigour (or early growth) and the ability to flower quickly. The suggestion that more early, and rapid shoot growth is at the expense of root growth, has been supported by findings that allocation to roots is greater in later maturing varieties. Therefore, it may be that differences in early growth are merely apparent as roots are rarely sampled or taken into account. Overall, the extent to which the relationship between vigour and earliness is a physiological phenomenon or a result of close linkage between the genes involved is unknown. The aim of the project is to explore this relationship by carefully measuring whole-plant growth under controlled conditions as well as monitoring under field conditions. A series of field and controlled environment experiments will be conducted across a range of cereal species (wheat, barley, oats, and cereal rye) using genotypes with known genetic background. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that few vigour measurements take into account the roots - a much under-researched area in crop development.

Supervisors

Dr Jim Virgona (CSU), Dr John Angus (CSIRO), Dr Peter Martin (NSW DPI), Dr Jason Condon (CSU)

Funding source

GRDC and FFICRC