An international team including researchers from The University of Western Australia have made a significant breakthrough in the development of drought resistant barley.

A team of plant biologists and chemists from The University of Western Australia in collaboration with staff from chemical company BASF have used the surprisingly close relationship between plants and malarial parasites to turn a molecule developed for possible malaria treatment into a new herbicide.

Screening of lentil genotypes by a global team, including researchers from The University of Western Australia has revealed some significant traits in lentils that will allow the important grain legume to endure increasing global temperatures.

Scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), The University of Western Australia and seven institutions globally have re-sequenced 300 lines of pigeonpea in a breakthrough that will provide food and nutritional security across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The University of Western Australia has been awarded a major grant to improve wheat production, in response to rising global demand for food in a changing and variable climate.

The Australian Government will invest $995,724 for this four year project, with an additional $1,552,081 contributed by global partners.

Researchers at The University of Western Australia in collaboration with The Australian National University have discovered the deadly fungus Parastagonospora nodorum invades wheat plants by producing a herbicide compound (elsinochrome) which kills plant cells when they are exposed to light.

China must balance its grain production in the Northern and Southern regions if it wants to maintain food security and environmental sustainability, according to a study published by researchers from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in China and The University of Western Australia.

Researchers from The University of Western Australia have identified 21,000 new genes in bread wheat.

The discovery is a big step forward in the continued improvement of bread wheat, which provides roughly one fifth of the world’s food.

Professor David Edwards from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences and Institute of Agriculture led a team in assembling the pangenome of bread wheat. The pangenome includes all the genes for a species rather than a single individual.

Energy is an all-important currency for plants, and scientists from The University of Western Australia have now calculated the cost of one of their biggest expenses. The knowledge could be a key to creating more energy efficient crops.