{"id":20089,"date":"2024-03-18T09:39:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T09:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=20089"},"modified":"2024-03-18T09:48:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T09:48:49","slug":"australias-botanists-on-the-path-to-developing-disease-free-crops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/03\/18\/australias-botanists-on-the-path-to-developing-disease-free-crops\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s botanists on the path to developing disease-free crops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Botanists in Australia have developed a technology for screening disease-causing genes that stunt the growth of plants, especially wheat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its March 2024 publication, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) cited an intention to develop disease-free crops<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Peter Dodds, who co-heads the CSIRO project, the success\u00a0could save world\u2019s agriculture. Incidentally, farmers around the world lose\u00a0$1 billion\u00a0each year\u00a0from crops that fail to grow properly due to rust pathogens.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rust pathogens are microbes that target the plant\u2019s development, stunt its growth, destroy leaves and cut branches. The removal of genes responsible for these pathogens could aid crops to mature and reach their optimum yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes barely a month after the unveiling of\u00a0QCAV-4<\/u><\/a>, the world\u2019s first approved GM banana with its infection-resistant genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disguised Proteins<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One way to recover yields and maturity is through developing genes in plants that can naturally defend against false proteins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plants with the ability to recognize a pathogen disguised as a protein can develop natural immunity against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, proteins that cause stunted growth come from the disease\u2019s avirulence (avr) encoder. <\/u><\/a>This encoder passes the protein into a plant\u2019s genes without any resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, local scientists are trying to alter vulnerable genes that these foreign proteins target and prevent infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheat Rust<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A major victory is against wheat stem rust, whose encoder gene\u2019s identification has reduced research time from possibly decades to a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stem rust can cut the yield of wheat by 90%, according to a 2018 publication by Australia\u2019s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAFF reported that in 1973, stem rust decimated wheat production by a 35% margin in southeast Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics indicate that combined with the El Ni\u00f1o drought,<\/u><\/a> an outbreak of stem rust could cause A$1.36 billion ($892.84 million) in losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennis-sized Blueberries<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is not just wheat or botanists that are having a field day with breakthroughs, either, but individual farmers, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 13, 2023, a Costa Group farm<\/u><\/a> in New South Wales harvested a 20.4-gram blueberry, a Guinness World Record. In normal production, blueberries weigh no more than 3 grams apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spirit with the times, the fruit\u2019s breeder now intends to cultivate more disease-free and drought-resistant blueberries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looks like scientists and companies in Australia aim to rid the planet of plant diseases and stave off global warming effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Botanists in Australia have developed a technology for screening disease-causing genes that stunt the growth of plants, especially wheat. In its March 2024 publication, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) cited an intention to develop disease-free crops. According to Peter Dodds, who co-heads the CSIRO project, the success\u00a0could save world\u2019s agriculture. Incidentally, farmers around the world lose\u00a0$1 billion\u00a0each year\u00a0from crops that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia\u2019s botanists on the path to developing disease-free crops - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/03\/18\/australias-botanists-on-the-path-to-developing-disease-free-crops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s botanists on the path to developing disease-free crops - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Botanists in Australia have developed a technology for screening disease-causing genes that stunt the growth of plants, especially wheat. 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