b'INTERNATIONAL NEWSGLOBAL SEED WATCHAUSTRALIA EXPERIENCING HIGHEST GROWTH IN WHEAT PRODUCTIVITY, CANADIAN FUNDING TARGETING CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE, AND CHINESE SCIENTISTS SHED LIGHT ON SOYBEAN GENOME EVOLUTIONSTATUS AUSTRALIA of and directs the use of molecular biology tools to help producers reduce environmental impacts, increase resilience, and improve dis-Over the past 30 years, Australia has experienced the highest growthease prevention in livestock and crops.in wheat productivity globally.When compared to Argentina, theRDAR is committed to advancing agriculture through U.S., France and Canada, Australias total factor productivity (TFP)genomics, and we foresee the projects announced today acceler-growth for wheat was 2.75 per cent. This compares to Argentinaating the adaptation of crops to climate change and the drive to at 0.98 per cent, the U.S. and France at 0.89 per cent, and Canadasustainable livestock production, Mark Redmond, RDAR CEO, at 0.61 per cent. Rather than measuring simple yield tonnage orsaid in the release. This work is essential as Alberta agriculture value, TFP compares the total gross output with total land, labour,responds to climate change, builds a more resilient industry, serves capital and material inputs. A growing TFP indicates total outputnew, environmentally conscious high-value markets, and returns is growing faster than total inputs. greater profits to producers.These number-crunching results come from a benchmarkingOutcomes from these genomic research projects will help pro-study by ACIL Allen, an independent advisory firm commissionedducers access and adopt new solutions for improving grazing man-to undertake the study by Grains Research and Developmentagement, soil carbon sequestration, and climate resiliency.Corporation (GRDC). ACIL Allen found that Australias growthSource: Alberta Seed Guidein wheat productivity comes from both area expansion (at 1.97 per cent a year) and yield growth (at 1.5 per cent).The report states that this yield growth has occurred withinSTATUS CHINAthe context of significant droughts and an unprecedented rate of technology-driven grain production. The latter has supported yieldIn a study published in PNAS, Dr. HAN Fangpus research team increases under water-limited circumstances. Australias level offrom the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the public investment is relatively similar to most of the other countries,Chinese Academy of Sciences has shed light on the fascinating with the U.S. being the largest investor. world of soybean genome evolution.When Australia is compared to just Canada and the U.S., itThe researchers studied the phenomenon of centromere repo-is the second-largest investor in genetics, the highest in crop pro- sitioning, which involves the formation of new centromeres at dif-tection and the third in crop nutrition. Australia and Canada bothferent chromosomal locations without altering the underlying DNA invest more than the US in automation, and Australia ranks secondsequences. This process has been widely observed in mammalian to Canada for investment in market access.species and is thought to play a crucial role in genome evolution The report shows that Australia invests approximately 1.5 perand speciation.cent of the gross value of grain production (GVP) in RD&E eachThe researchers performed a comprehensive pan-centromere year, including government contributions. Funding from researchanalysis using CENH3-ChIP-seq data obtained from 27 soybean partners increases RD&E investment to about 2.5 per cent of GVP.accessions. This diverse set of accessions included three wild soy-This investment is funded through commodity levies and matchingbeans, nine landraces, and 15 cultivars. Building on the previous Australian Government R&D contributions. State governments,discovery of three centromere satellites in soybeans, they identified public research bodies, universities and other private entities alsotwo additional centromere satellites that specifically associated with contribute to research outcomes. chromosome 1. These new satellites revealed significant rearrange-The next most significant RD&E investment theme is cropments in the centromere structures of chromosome 1 across different protection. The study identified that Australia ranks first among topaccessions, affecting the localization of CENH3.grain-producing countries, with 24 per cent of its funding allocatedFurthermore, the researchers revealed a high frequency of cen-towards crop protection. The third major category is agronomic andtromere repositioning on 14 out of 20 chromosomes. Interestingly, farming systems research, where Australia ranks the lowest. Twelvemany of these newly formed centromeres were found in close prox-per cent of funding is allocated to this. Australias RD&E spendingimity to the native centromeres.on automation is comparable with Canadas, while the U.S. reportedIn summary, this ground-breaking research has unveiled the the lowest spending share among these three countries. RD&Eextensive phenomenon of centromere repositioning within the expenditure on market access is lower for Australia than for Canadasoybean genome. Moreover, it underscores the significance of cen-but higher than in the US. tromere satellites in controlling centromere positions and support-Source: Grains Research and Development Corporation ing their critical functions.Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences STATUS CANADAResults Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) has invested $2.4 million in three Accelerating Agriculture Innovation genomics pro-jects which target Climate SMART Agriculture and Food Systems initiatives. Genomics development accelerates the understanding 46ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'