NSW DPI guides national plant breeding program

NSW DPI is to provide leadership for a new $3m national statistics program which aims to ensure reliable and statistically sound methods are used to support variety selection in plant breeding programs.

NSW Department of Primary Industries Research Leader for Biometrics, Dr Brian Cullis, will lead the program, which is funded by the Grains Development and Research Corporation (GRDC).

Statistical methods form the underlying basis for assessing the relationships between the performance of a crop in terms of yield, quality, disease resistance and stresses, and the genes that influence that performance.

This project supports research into the use of molecular and genetic information in determining performance, by developing efficient and effective techniques for research design and analysis.

The implementation of these methods in computer software will ensure that the information generated by studies involving the use of molecular markers, association mapping studies and pedigree based approaches is used to its full capacity.

Further information

Dr Brian Cullis, NSW DPI, Wagga on 02 6938 1855 or brian.cullis@dpi.nsw.gov.au.

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