Research Interest
Title: Plant Biotechnology and Conservation of Germplasm
Description: The best place to conserve plants is in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, habitats are rapidly being degraded or destroyed. With many species facing extinction, cultivation is the last resort. Maintaining extensive collections of plants under cultivation in the field, or even in containers is impractical. Preservation in vitro may be a plausible alternative, with cryostatic storage being the ultimate method.
Title: Factors affecting rapid multiplication of grapevine in vitro.
Description: This is a part of a collaborative research project between UNE, Agriculture Victoria and a private nursery in Victoria. The project is aimed at factors (environmental, nutritional and hormonal) influencing the productivity of the culture system in elite lines of grapevine plants. The acclimatised plants will be used for replanting and or establishment of vineyards for wine production in various regions in Australia.
Title:In Vitro Techniques and Plant Breeding
Description: Plant tissue culture includes a number of techniques for manipulating plant cells and tissues. These techniques can improve the efficiency of breeding and can solve particular problems which are difficult or impossible to overcome by conventional breeding techniques.
Anther culture techniques are being undertaken in Sturt's Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa formerly Clianthus formosus ) to produce haploid plants. The result of this research may be important in the production of male sterile plants for the cut flower industry.
Title:Postharvest Physiology of Australian Native Plants.
Description: Australian plants are being introduced into commercial cultivation for new cut flower crops. We have a limited knowledge of the postharvest physiology of these plants. In the group's Horticulture and Biotechnology Laboratory the postharvest physiology of Sturt's Desert Pea, one of Australia's most admired flowers, is being investigated.
Title:Factors affecting rapid multiplication of grapevine in vitro.
Description: This is a part of a collaborative research project between UNE, Agriculture Victoria and a private nursery in Victoria. The project is aimed at factors (environmental, nutritional and hormonal) influencing the productivity of the culture system in elite lines of grapevine plants. The acclimatised plants will be used for replanting and or establishment of vineyards for wine production in various regions in Australia.
Title:Effect of environmental factors on acclimatisation of in vitro grown plants.
Description: This project deals with systematic study of environmental factors (light intensity; sugar types and concentration; gelling agent types and concentration; temperature and pH of medium) on the acclimatisation of micropropagated plants.
Title:Effects of temperature on flowering and seed development in Sturt's Desert pea.
Description: Sturt's Desert pea (SDP) grows mainly in arid region of Southern and Central Australia. We have observed that the plants can tolerate very hot conditions (Temperatures above 40 °C) provided sufficient water is available. The optimum daily maximum temperature is around 35 °C. The objective of this project is to undertake systematic studies of temperature effects on flowering and seed set in SDP.
Title: Effect of water stress and irradiance on root formation in Sturt's Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa ) Cuttings.
Description: In this project the stock plants of Sturt's Desert Pea grown under two light regimes (high light and low light conditions) will be subjected to different degree of moisture stress, simulated by polyethylene glycol for different periods. The cuttings taken from these plants will be assessed for their degree of rootability. The water potential of cuttings at the commencement of experiment will be measured using a Pressure Bomb.
Title: Production of sterile Sturt's Desert Pea flowers.
Description: Another impediment to commercialisation of SDP as a cut flower is the production of large amount of pollen grain in flowers. This makes transportation of the flowers very difficult. The pollen grain sheds during the transportation which in turn stains petals and reduces the quality of the flowers and hence their market value. This project is centred around production of triploid plants which are sterile i.e flowers which do not produce pollen grains. Triploids occasionally arise naturally when, for some reason, an ovule does not undergo meiosis but instead produces a diploid egg cell. Fertilisation of this egg cell with a haploid male gamete brings into being a triploid individual. Triploids can also result from artificial crossing of a diploid plant, which produces haploid gametes, with a tetraploid plant which produces diploid gametes. Where there is an odd number of chromosome sets, as in triploids, reproductive fertility is usually impaired. In most cases plants are completely sterile. This is because during meiosis the normal pairing of chromosomes can not properly take place since one set will have no homologous set to pair with, and gametes fail to form.
Other Titles:
1- Exploring new systems in in vitro culture of Australian woody plants for example Meristematic Clusters (MC) as a method of mass propagation
2- Application of Thin Cell Layer (TCL) cultures in mass propagation of monocotyledonous Australian plants
3- Application of Temporary Immersion System (TIS) to mass propagation of Australian plants
4- Understanding adventitious root formation in in vitro culture especially with respect to role of plant growth regulators and charcoal
5- Understanding microbial infestation in vitro- Is it possible or indeed advisable to have an axenic system. Suitability of inoculation of culture system using mycorrhiza and other microorganism to improve plant quality in vitro which ultimately affects acclimatisation.