Dr. Fernanda Dreccer1, Dr Jeremy Whish, Ms Audrey Delahunty, Dr Mark Richards, Dr Neroli Graham, Dr Stacey Power, Dr Daniel Rodriguez, Mr Peter DeVoil
1CSIRO
Biography:
Fernanda Dreccer is an experienced science leader, with expertise spanning plant and crop physiology, pre-breeding and simulation modelling. She is particularly interested in crop productivity under abiotic stress conditions. She has led a series of national and international projects and delivered on topics related to drought adaptation and extreme temperatures.
Pulses can increase profits, diversify income, and increase sustainability. However, significant productivity gaps remain in response to abiotic stresses, driven by a lack of knowledge of pulse physiology and a framework to channel currently available knowledge into better agronomy. Given the large impact of climate variability and drought on crop productivity across Australia, our work focuses on investigating the performance of pulses under limited water availability.
Abstract:
A series of experiments were established across the country to estimate the water-limited yield potential, water use and water use efficiency, using chickpea as a model crop. Two types of trials were planned, detailed and satellite, all using unified protocols. The detailed trials spanned thirty-six environments across the country (site x year x time of sowing x water availability combinations), with 2 to 4 contrasting genotypes. In all environments, crops were harvested at 300 and 600 °Cd after emergence, flowering, podding and maturity, partitioned into vegetative and reproductive organs and leaf area measured. Soil water measurements were carried out gravimetrically or with a neutron moisture meter. Data from detailed trials were used for development of the APSIM chickpea model and satellite trials for validation. Both experimental and simulated data were used to benchmark yield and water use efficiency, incorporating the main environmental drivers. The influence of different environmental factors was analysed focussing on crop stages critical for yield formation and opportunities for increasing adaptation.