Biotech Updates

QUAAFI-Pioneer Hi-Bred Partners on Predicting Crop Yield Technology

May 11, 2012

A new crop technology was co-developed by University of Queensland's (UQ) Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred. The team, led by Prof. Graeme Hammer, director of QAAFI's Centre for Plant Science, is composed of UQ scientists. Their goal is to develop a world-class model which will assist farmers and scientists in predicting crop yield.

The technology uses the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM). It is a software platform that was developed in Australia through the collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Queensland Government, and the University of Queensland. It enables the researchers to input many specific characteristics of experimental plant's behavior under test conditions, and it also facilitates prediction of which crops will respond best under drought conditions.

According to Prof. Hammer, they will be working together to improve the modeling platform so that it can accept even more traits, thereby increasing its utility. This will give the members of the consortium an access to the resulting advanced modeling platform, thereby facilitating further research in a number of crops.

Read more about the APSIM technology at http://uc.searca.org/news_events/2012/may/05_2.html.