精东传媒app

Agriculture is one of Australia鈥檚 major industries and the Darling Downs region is a major centre for several government and commercial plant breeding organisations. The course is designed to introduce the student to the principles and practice of plant breeding and to associated areas of plant diversity, speciation and taxonomy and the evolution of important crop plants. These principles and practices form an essential part of the training of plant biologists.

The course allows student to develop skills in both the theoretical and practical aspects of plant breeding. The course commences with a review of the historical importance of plant breeding. This is followed by a review of conventional strategies for plant breeding and the application of recent advances in plant biotechnology to enhance the efficiency of selection with major breeding programs. The course concludes with a review of plant genetic engineering and its major applications to date. Practical work in the course, via a residential workshop, includes a study of plant breeding strategies, the isolation of plant DNA and generation of molecular markers. This is followed by a series of visits to local plant breeding field stations. During the course, the history and evolution of several major crops is followed to demonstrate the practical application of many theoretical concepts in plant breeding.

This course contains a highly recommended residential school for both external and on-campus students.

On completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Apply basic botanical knowledge of plant variability, taxonomy, speciation and selection;
2. Compare and evaluate method of plant introduction, quarantine, genetics, the generation of variability and, breeding for particular target traits such as disease resistance;
3. Discuss and examine approaches to undertaking successful plant breeding programs;
4. Apply practical and theoretical skills in the application of biotechnology to plant breeding.