Value Added Wheat CRC

Most of the research areas in collaboration with the Plant Breeding Institute are;

1. cereal molecular marker discovery and genotyping service carried out by Triticarte P/L, a joint venture between VAWCRC and Diversity Arrays Technology P/L,
2. genetics of wheat quality including starch granule size and amylose/amylopectin ratio, pentosans, enzymes, and storage proteins, sprouting tolerance and factors influencing milling yield and water absorption,
3. breeding of specialty wheats including soft wheats, wheats with zero polyphenol oxiase, high or low starch A granules, high or low amylose and high tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting tolerance.

These research activities are supported by a wheat doubled haploid program, with field sites at Cobbitty, Menangle, Narrabri and additional collaborators sites in NSW and interstate. The research program is supported by 3 senior research scientists, 3 research fellows, 7 PhD students and 6 technicians. The programs involve close collaboration with the Cereal Rust Laboratory, NSW Agriculture (Elizabeth Macarthur Agriculture Institute, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth), the South Australian Research and Development Institute, and Western Australian Department of Agriculture (South Perth).