Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute
(NSW Agriculture)

section heading graphic   Overview

The Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute (WWAI) and the National Wine & Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) undertake research and extension activities to support the dryland farming systems of southern NSW and the viticulture industry of the state.

Research staff are divided roughly evenly between plant improvement (breeding and selection for improved yield and quality for wheat, oats, barley, canola, lupins, annual and perennial pasture species) and improved management (soil fertility, weed science, plant pathology, entomology, ruminant nutrition, pasture and crop agronomy) projects.

section heading graphic   Competitive Advantages

Both WWAI and the NWGIC are multidisciplinary institutes with scientists of international standing across levels of biological organisation from agricultural ecosystems (farming systems), to crop, pasture and weed specialists, to plant physiologists, plant pathologists, entomologists and soil microbiologists and to analytical chemists, cereal and oilseed chemists and molecular biologists. These scientists are supported by economists and a biometrics (bioinformatics) group.

Co-location with Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga campus allows complementary and collaborative provision of research services and access to postgraduate students.

The WWAI and NWGIC are staffed by highly qualified research scientists that are equipped with modern laboratories (analytical chemistry, molecular biology, cereal chemistry, oilseed chemistry, plant pathology, soil microbiology, physics and chemistry, entomology and plant physiology) and field, glasshouse and animal house research equipment (plant breeding, crop and pasture agronomy, weed science, soil fertility, ruminant nutrition and feed quality).

The disciplinary structure in the organisation enables two-way communication between levels of biological organisation. This communication is essential if the promises arising from advances in biotechnology are to be efficiently realised. The expertise of the staff and the high standard of their research facilities and equipment, enables the research projects to be conducted efficiently.

section heading graphic   Technology

Plant breeding and selection – wheat, oats, barley, canola, lupins, peas, pasture legumes.

Plant improvement support services – biometrics, data base management, cereal chemistry, plant physiology and nutrition, molecular genetics, oilseed chemistry, plant pathology, tissue culture, double haploid production.

Key skills in plant improvement – integrated statistical techniques to select for genetic gain for grain yield and quality in combined analyses; identifying genetic and environment effects and gene x environment interactions; fully integrated statistical analyses in breeding and selection programs using data from the field (yields, disease rankings, etc) and laboratory (molecular markers, grain quality measurements, site chemical and climatic measurements, etc)

Molecular biology -

  • Application of marker technology in breeding programs.
    Barley: Al tolerance, Russian wheat aphid, malting quality traits, plant phenological characters, disease (scald, leaf rust, net blotch).
    Wheat: grain quality (high and low molecular weight glutenins, granule bound starch synthetase, stem rust)
  • Development and validation of markers in breeding programs.
    Barley: malting quality, winter habit, Al and Mn tolerance, insect and disease resistance.
    Wheat: septoria tritici blotch resistance, grain and flour quality, leaf, stem and stripe rust, sprouting tolerance, late maturity alpha-amylase, Al tolerance.
    Canola: Al and Mn tolerance, disease resistance.

section heading graphic   Corporate Alliances/Partnerships

  • National Wine and Grape Industry Centre ( joint venture between NSW Agriculture, Charles Sturt University and the NSW wine industry)
  • NSW Agricultural Genomics Centre (joint venture between NSW Agriculture, CSIRO Plant Industry and Macquarie University, funded by BioFirst biotechnology strategy of NSW government).
  • Enterprise Grains Australia (joint venture between NSW Agriculture, Queensland Department of Primary Industry, WA Agriculture and GRDC).
  • Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga
  • CRC for Australian Weed Management
  • CRC Plant-based management of Dryland Salinity
  • CRC for Value Added Wheat
  • CRC for Viticulture
  • CRC for Cattle and Beef Quality
  • Rothamsted Research Institute, Rothamsted, UK
  • Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China

Partnering Opportunities

  • Application of advanced biometrical methods for managing and interpreting data generated by molecular biology techniques.
  • Contracting the skills and techniques required to select useful pathways for the application of molecular biology (applying multi-discipline skills to tracing the pathway from the applied problem or opportunity to the gene).
  • Cooperative application of validated markers in the above breeding and selection program
  • Cooperative development and verification of new markers
Contact Person Dr Keith Helyar NSW Agriculture Logo
Job Title Director, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute
Address Private Mail Bag
City/Suburb Wagga Wagga
NSW 2650 Australia
Email keith.helyar@agric.nsw.gov.au
Phone +61 2 6938 1854
Fax +61 2 6938 1809
Website www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/1145

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