The delivery of better canola varieties to Western Australian growers is being accelerated by key advances in trial design and data analysis, an international plant breeding forum in Perth has been told.
Canola Breeders (CB) plant breeder Cameron Beeck was speaking as a Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) sponsored participant at the recent ‘Collaborative Breeding Master Class’.
Held at The University of Western Australia (UWA), the two-week event brought together plant breeders from around the world and discussed ‘collaborative breeding’, also known as ‘participatory breeding’.
Collaborative breeding refers to research which is directly relevant to growers and involves them in the breeding process to provide improved crop varieties.
It recognises the needs of diverse agricultural systems, particularly marginal lands where farmers cannot afford expensive seed, fertiliser and chemicals.
Dr Beeck told the Master Class that CB’s breeding program had been enhanced by its collaboration with researchers from the GRDC funded project ‘Statistics for the Australian Grains Industry’ (SAGI).
Led by Professor Brian Cullis, of the University of Wollongong, and Dr Alison Smith, of Industry & Investment NSW, SAGI delivers high quality information through efficient analysis of National Variety Trial (NVT) data, and conducts statistical research to develop improved designs and analysis for plant improvement data.
Once tested, these methods are implemented in international plant breeding programs, as demonstrated during the Master Class.
“CB’s collaboration with the SAGI project has revolutionised our plant breeding in crucial areas of trial design and data analysis,” Dr Beeck said.
“The new designs and statistics allow us to advance more canola material through to selection, faster.
“We can then make decisions on what to release earlier and with more confidence than we could using traditional designs and analysis.
“We can also decide which canola lines we should cross, earlier, and with more confidence, leading to increased rates of genetic gain and better varieties delivered faster to WA growers.”
Dr Beeck, who completed a GRDC sponsored plant breeding PhD at UWA in 2006 and grew up on a farm at Gnowangerup, said the improved trial design and data analysis technology was flexible, efficient and cheap to implement.
“This means that, as well as benefiting Australian growers, the technology is also very useful for breeding programs in developing countries,” he said.
Dr Beeck said Australian plant breeders benefited from taking part in the Master Class by learning new ideas about collaborative breeding from international plant breeders, responsible for a variety of crops.
Breeders participating in the event came from Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, East Timor, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal and Tanzania.
The Collaborative Breeding Master Class was sponsored by The Crawford Fund; the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA); and UWA’s International Centre for Plant Breeding, Education and Research (ICBER), which is supported by the GRDC.
The GRDC sponsored five Australian participants in the event.
