As part of an international consortium, CSIRO scientists have played an important role in uncovering groundbreaking new information about Fusarium – a fungus capable of devastating cereal crops.

After working with botanical researchers in Canberra for the past seven weeks, 10 students from around Australia will graduate this week from the Student’s Volunteer Botanical Internship Program.

Predicting climate change effects on wheat, understanding grapevine diseases and studying plant-water relationships are some of the topics 22 top university students are investigating this summer as part of the CSIRO Summer Student Program.

CSIRO researchers are studying how grapevines respond to high temperatures and low water availability – conditions which can reduce grape yields by up to 25 per cent.

CSIRO researchers have identified wheat and barley lines resistant to Crown Rot – a disease that costs Australian wheat and barley farmers $79 million in lost yield every year.

A guide designed to help the Australian cotton industry improve the quality of the fibre it produces has been released by CSIRO and the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC (Cotton CRC).

CSIRO and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers, have been awarded a AU$1.6 million grant to increase the understanding of genes responsible for growth and yield in grasses for use as bio-energy and food crops.

While the implications of climate change for biodiversity have been widely recognised, the insidious effect of invasive alien species (IAS) on global biodiversity stays under the radar.

CSIRO scientists are breeding new varieties of disease-resistant wheat in an effort to improve crop yields and avert a potential food supply crisis.

In recognition of his research into the basis of immunity in crops to diseases caused by rust fungi, CSIRO biologist Dr Jeff Ellis has been honoured with election as a Fellow of the Royal Society.