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PLANT HEALTH
Better outcomes for the grains industry As the grains industry looks for avenues to im- prove productivity and profitability, investment into crop science and modelling and engaging with experts and tools for decision/discussion support can help accelerate the discovery and delivery of innovative strategies. Crop modelling has significantly increased the quality of research and development outputs by integrating knowledge and efforts between deci- sion-making individuals and entities across the wider grains industry from growers, plant breed- ers, advisors, agronomists, plant/crop scientists experts. The concept of engaging modelling as a sup- portive tool extends beyond the provided sor- ghum example, benefiting various Australian crops including other cereals (e.g., wheat: Chenu et al., 2017; Hunt et al., 2019), legumes, horticul- ture and viticulture crops. Maintaining and growing the fruitful inter- actions across the agricultural industry supported by modelling research and experts will help en- sure Australia’s agriculture improvement efforts remain robust and relevant for addressing new challenges.
investment into crop modelling enabled researchers and plant breeders to evaluate the value of manipu- lating plant genetics on photosynthesis, increasing the efficiency at which crop plants convert CO2 into biomass and yield (Wu et al., 2019). These sorghum crop modelling examples show the ability of modelling in generating broad-scale assessment as an effective means to support robust discussion with decision-makers.
References
Dr Alex Wu is an Amplify Fellow at the Centre for Crop Science for the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at The University of Queensland. Alex develops integrative crop ecophysiological knowledge with crop simulation modelling to fast-track smarter decisions in breeding and crop manage- ment, supporting the Austral- ian grains industry in achieving greater yield and yield stability.
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