AgroPages-Ancient Wheat Varieties Help Boost Nematode Resistance-Agricultural news

Soil scientists want to go back the older land race species of wheat in an attempt to build resistance to nematodes into new wheat varieties.

Land race plants are grown from seeds which have not been specifically selected and developed by plant breeders.

Root-lesion nematodes are in about 70 per cent of northern grain regions and do about $50 million worth of damage to crops in the north each year.

Soil biologist John Thompson says the field day held on the Darling Downs aimed to show the importance of nematode resistance rather than just tolerance in crops.

"The issue with tolerant varieties is that while they can still yield well while nematodes attack their roots the nematodes might still multiply inside their roots"

"We're finding if we go for resistance which we can get from Middle Eastern land race wheats and from a selection we made here called GS50A, then we can build that into modern wheat varieties to grow in the north."

Alex Gwynne from the West Prairie region of the Darling Downs was one of the first farmers to look at the impact nematodes have on crop performance.

And after more than 30 years he still has 20 hectares dedicated to researching