The project aim is to increase the water use efficiency and yield of wheat in the rainfed and minimally irrigated regions of Australia and India by developing new breeding lines with deeper root systems that better exploit moisture stored in the soil, and desirable characteristics to enhance crop establishment. A team of physiologists, agronomists and breeders in southern and northern Australia has been assembled to collaborate with a team of leading breeders in India to achieve this aim. Since starting the project on July 1, 2009, the teams have become integrated around a core germplasm collection, common target traits (roots and establishment), common controlled environment and field measurements, and joint data analyses.
The first objective is to identify wheat genotypes with deeper, faster-growing root systems that access more water and result in greater yield. Completed activities include:
(i) sending a diverse collection of novel and high performing germplasm to India for validation within the project (this material will be increased May to September 2010 in northern India for planting in Indian trails in 2010/ 2011 season);
(ii) sharing phenotyping protocols for measuring roots in controlled and field conditions at four face-to-face visits since project inception in 2008 between Australian and Indian researchers, and electronically via a SharePoint site;
(iii) establishing and running field trials for deep root growth at four Australian sites (100 to 400 lines assessed per site) and three Indian sites (40 lines assessed per site) that included water use efficiency and soil moisture measurements, root measurements to depth (by coring) and shoot measurements;
(iv) testing novel methods to indirectly detect wheat lines with deeper root systems in the field using leaf and soil imaging in Australia for use by breeders in both countries in future;
(v) initiating the screening of new lines for faster-growing root systems in controlled conditions in Australia and India for linking to field results; and
(vi) crossing wheat lines with slow and fast root growth to identify genomic regions associated with deeper root systems for marker development in future. Activities in progress towards this objective include receiving Indian germplasm in Australia (MTA being approved and exchanged).
A significant achievement was to measure the maximum rooting depths of wheats at the Indian sites by the PDF on a month-long visit to India in February, to provide a benchmark for improvements with new germplasm in India. This data was not available and is likely to have a wide impact on Indian wheat yield improvements and water use efficiency in future beyond the scope of this project.
The second objective is to develop new germplasm for better crop establishment and robust molecular markers for use in breeding. Activities towards this objective include
(i) sending Australian germplasm with good establishment traits to India for testing in the field in 2011-2012
(ii) training Indian breeders in rapid selection methods (phenotyping) for good establishment traits quickly in the laboratory.
(iii) molecular progress in Australia towards the release of the first marker for Rht13, an alternative dwarfing gene to Rht 1 and 2, which allows wheat to have long coleoptiles but optimal final plant height. A long coleoptile is the key trait to allow deeper seed placement into moisture for better establishment and higher yield in limited moisture environments.
Communication. Project teams communicated face to face on four occasions. In September 2008 three Indian breeders visited Canberra and surrounding field sites for training in techniques to measure root and shoot characteristics; in November 2009 two Australian scientists went to New Delhi for a project meeting; in February 2010 the PDF visited all Indian sites to develop root coring methods and share other field measurements to establish lines with deeper roots and greater water use efficiency. Electronic communication occurs on a SharePoint site established for the project, via email and phone. All groups are trained in common measurement methods, and field data from two Indian seasons at three sites and one Australian season from four sites is being analysed with novel statistical methods and ranking algorithms to identify outstanding lines with superior roots in the field. Project activities were communicated directly to Australian breeding companies at the CSIRO Pre-breeding Information Day for Breeders, in Canberra in September 2009, and to Indian breeders at the first Indo-Australian Program on Marker-Assisted Wheat Breeding (IAP-MAWB) Science Meeting, Australian High Commission, New Delhi in February 2010.
Staffing. The Australian project team hired post-doctoral fellow Dr. Anton Wasson and technician Clare Firth. The Indian project teams hired SRFs in three groups- Pune, Indore and Karnal. This project is on track to meet the objectives and is within budget.

The aim of this project is to develop wheat germplasm for India and Australia with shoot and root traits that enable it to capture more water and convert that water into more grain than current wheat varieties. Australian wheat research groups from CSIRO, Canberra and DEEDI, Queensland, are collaborating with the national Indian wheat breeding organisations, Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR) in Karnal, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Indore and the ARI in Pune to achieve this aim. The project commenced July 1, 2009. In the first year, phenotyping methods were shared with the Indian groups to select for long coleoptiles to emerge from deep planting in moist soil, and for rapid early leaf vigour to shade soil and minimise early evaporation of soil water. The Indian groups were trained in root phenotyping methods in controlled conditions. Methods were developed in India to core and wash roots in the field, to measure root depth and density and water uptake across many genotypes and sites. Australian germplasm was shipped to India. All Indian and Australian groups carried out field and controlled environment screening for roots of their own country germplasm. This report covers the activities carried out in the second year of the project, from July 1 2010 to June 30 2011.
The first objective is to identify wheat genotypes with deeper, faster-growing root systems that access more water and result in greater yield. Activities this year include:
(i) Germplasm exchange and seed increase
Indian germplasm arrived in Australia under an MTA agreement and is currently being grown in quarantine. This is an important achievement in the project. The material comprises of 40 lines selected by the Indian team representing Indian cultivars with long-running high yields in the central and peninsular water-limiting regions. It was screened over the first three seasons of the project at the three Indian field sites, and this data provides substantial information on its performance and evidence for variation in deep roots and yield. In Australia it will be phenotyped in control and field conditions to compare against Australian germplasm for potential new traits to introgess into Australian varieties. This material took approximately two years to arrive and delayed project activities. Tim Setter and Richard Trethowan provided 10 lines of this set late last year and these are being phenotyped in controlled conditions and the field now, so there is a first look at those lines.
Australian germplasm, which arrived in India in December 2009 under MTA, was increased in the off station nursery over summer 2010 and over the rabi 2010/2011 season at Karnal. Approximately 550 lines yielded an average of 120 g of seed. This is being increased again over the summer 2011 to provide enough seed for all three sites to assess root growth by the lines selected for deeper roots, emergence by the alternative dwarfing gene lines, and ground cover by the leaf vigour lines. Enough seed will be available for some lines to do full plots and assess water use and water use efficiency in India. This will be done following the training scheduled for the groups in India September 2011 with water use efficiency expert John Kirkegaard.
(ii) Field phenotyping of roots in India and Australia
The project team is building a comprehensive, multi-environment data set of wheat root variation for breeding. Field trials for deep effective root growth were run in India with 40 Indian lines at three sites at Karnal, Indore and Pune (third season) and in Australia with 100 Australian lines at four sites (second season). Hill plot configuration and methods developed Year 1 were used. Shoot measurements (green leaf maintenance, canopy temperature depression, harvest index and grain size) were used as indirect measures of root growth and water uptake to develop quick screens for breeders. For the second year, these shoot measures were used to identify lines to core for roots. Root coring to 1.5 m in India was done using the methods developed with the Australian PDF in 2010. Quick shoot measures show good correlations with shoot biomass and harvest index and yield, and weak to good correlations with deep root growth, especially in Indore in India. Analysis is still underway with 2010 and 2011 data. The Australian sites had very high rainfall in 2010 (twice average at grain development in the south; in the north it was too wet to harvest the trials) and data are possibly not relevant to water-limited environments.
(iii) Controlled environment phenotyping of roots
The top 100 Australian lines from the 2009 trials were screened in a controlled environment seedling screen in flat large germination papers to the two leaf stage. Seminal root number, angle and length were measured. The angle that the roots grow from the seed was significantly correlated to root depth in the field; wheats with narrower angles had deeper roots. Root angle varied six-fold across the lines. It may be an important trait to screen for deeper roots in the field, as other groups have suggested. Root number and length at this seedling stage were not correlated with mature plant root depth and length in the field. This confirms previous studies that are suggesting that root length at the seedling stage is not a good predictor of mature root length. However it is a good predictor of seedling length in the field.
Controlled environment phenotyping of roots in India is progressing.
(iv) QTL identification for seedling root traits- collaboration with Tony Condon and the ACIAR-China project
Visiting scientist Dr. Hong Zhang of Northwest A & F University screened a mapped population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between Vigor18 and Chuanmai 18 for QTLs associated with seedling root traits. Several QTL associated with seminal root number, primary root length, total root length, and branching were identified. This population was sent to India and was grown in the field in Australia (2009). Controlled and field phenotyping results will be compared with QTL.
The second objective of the project is to develop new germplasm for better crop establishment and robust molecular markers for use in breeding. Activities towards this objective include:
(i) Marker for Rht 13
Rht 13 remains the preferred alternative dwarfing gene for improved crop establishment (long coleoptile for deep planting into moisture and reduced final plant height). Other Rht genes, and possible markers for them, are also being assessed (Rht 4, 5, 18).
This year a new marker for Rht 13 was identified and found to be informative across 66 Australian and international cultivars. This marker requires capillary electrophoresis for discrimination, a method not readily available for breeders. Efforts are underway to get closer to the gene to develop a gel based assay for breeders. This coming year field research will test whether there is any Rht gene by drought interactions, and this will be conducted at the three Indian sites with germplasm with these genes.
Mentoring and training.
Project members in Australia are working with ACIAR Graduate Officer Ms. Keshia Hilliam to foster a stronger community around early career researchers in wheat and agriculture within this project and the Indo-Australian Program on Marker-Assisted Wheat Breeding (IAP-MAWB).
Communication.
(i) In India
Project teams travelled together to the three Indian sites, Karnal, Indore and Pune in February 2011, to further develop root coring methods and share other field measurements to establish lines with deeper roots and greater water use efficiency. This project tour followed the second Indo-Australian Program on Marker-Assisted Wheat Breeding (IAP-MAWB) Science Meeting, Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal in February 2010. Electronic communication occurs on via email, Skype and phone.
(ii) In Australia
Project presented to the ACIAR-India Minisymposium in Adelaide, October 2010.
(iii) Publications
An abstract was jointly written and submitted to the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne 2011 to be followed by a publication in the Journal of Experimental Botany September 2011.
Media coverage in Ground Cover, Partners magazine and journal Nature.
Staffing.
The Australian project team hired technician Samantha Walker to replace Clare Firth, and she joins PDF Anton Wasson. The Indian project teams have SRFs in three groups- Pune, Indore and Karnal.
Delays.
This project is approximately one year behind towards meeting the objectives due to delay in exchange and bulking of germplasm in each country and an extraordinarily wet season in Australia in 2010. It is within budget.