A number of Australian woody species are shown to differ widely in adventitious root production in vitro in response to the type and combination of hormones applied, although the most effective combinations usually included IBA. Shoots of... more
A number of Australian woody species are shown to differ widely in adventitious root production in vitro in response to the type and combination of hormones applied, although the most effective combinations usually included IBA. Shoots of Eremophila lanii F. Muell produced roots on a medium containing cytokinins and no auxin. Two species, Prostanthera striatiflora F.v.M and Correa decumbens F.v.M., required reduced pH and a period of darkness for root induction, whereas these conditions inhibited Grevillea biternata Meissner. There also is an interaction among hormone treatment, media pH, and the effect of continuous light vs. a period of darkness. Chemical names used: 1H-indole-3-butanoic acid (IBA); naphthhalene acetic acid (NAA); indole-3-acetic acid (IAA); B-naphthoxyacetic acid (NOA); 6-furylaminopurine (KIN); N-(phenylmethyl)-1H-purin-6-amine (BA).
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One of the impediments to commercialisation of Sturt's Desert Pea a cut flower is the production of large amount of pollen grain in flowers. This brings about the reduction in flower quality due to petal staining by the pollen grains... more
One of the impediments to commercialisation of Sturt's Desert Pea a cut flower is the production of large amount of pollen grain in flowers. This brings about the reduction in flower quality due to petal staining by the pollen grains which are shed during transportation. In addition, during transportation pollination may occur, resulting in rapid degeneration of flowers and thus reduction in the vase life of the flowers. Our work is focussed on the production of sterile plants by manipulating the ploidy level. The strategies used are via in vitro and in vivo techniques. In vitro strategy is centred around the production of haploid plants using anther culture. Since pollen grains are haploid, plants regenerated from them are also haploid. With the in vivo strategy, we aim to produce triploid plants. Step one in the process is to produce plants that are tetraploid by application of chemical colchicine (colchicine acts by disrupting spindle formation during mitotic cell division) t...
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The work reported here was aimed at determining the duration of pollen viability and stigma receptivity in Swainsona formosa (Sturt’s desert pea, an Australian native legume), as an initial step in conventional breeding via artificial... more
The work reported here was aimed at determining the duration of pollen viability and stigma receptivity in Swainsona formosa (Sturt’s desert pea, an Australian native legume), as an initial step in conventional breeding via artificial crossing by hand pollination. The pollen viability was determined for pollen shed from anthers and retained inside the keel under glasshouse conditions (temperature 25 - 32oC, light intensity ranging from 650 - 1200 µmol m-2 s-1 and photoperiod 10 – 14 hours) and for pollen harvested from anthers and stored under cold (4oC) and total darkness conditions. The receptivity of stigma was determined using stigma on intact plants under glasshouse conditions. The stigmatic surface was exposed and rubbed with fingertips. Pollen from anthers which had just begun shedding was applied to the stigmatic surface one day prior to anther dehiscence, on the day of anther dehiscence and daily thereafter until 8 days after anther dehiscence. The result indicated that pol...
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This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of tillage in organic agriculture, and details its impacts on the environment. Aside from the climatic factors, socioeconomic and cultural factors also influence the attitude of... more
This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of tillage in organic agriculture, and details its impacts on the environment. Aside from the climatic factors, socioeconomic and cultural factors also influence the attitude of organic farmers toward tillage. Some agronomically based concepts of tillage management in organic agriculture are presented. Finally, differences between the expected effects of tillage management in conventional and organic systems are addressed.
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Research Interests: Psychology and CRC
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Research Interests: Weed and Aqueous Solution
Chapter 5 Distributed Problem-Based Learning and Threaded Discourse Lisa Lobry de Bruyn ... SCIENCES TABLE 5.1 (continued) Student activities Examples Student skills and competency development areas ... Barrows, and Crooks (1999) as the... more
Chapter 5 Distributed Problem-Based Learning and Threaded Discourse Lisa Lobry de Bruyn ... SCIENCES TABLE 5.1 (continued) Student activities Examples Student skills and competency development areas ... Barrows, and Crooks (1999) as the use of PBL in online courses. ...
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The commercialization of Sturt's Desert Pea as cut flowers is subjected to petal staining by pollen grains which are shed during transportation, and therefore the flowers quality reduces significantly. In addition, during... more
The commercialization of Sturt's Desert Pea as cut flowers is subjected to petal staining by pollen grains which are shed during transportation, and therefore the flowers quality reduces significantly. In addition, during transportation self pollination may take place, resulting in a rapid degeneration of flowers and thus reduction in the vase life of the flowers. Our current work is focussed on the production of male sterile plants via anther culture. Anther contains microspores that are haploid, and plants regenerated from microspores within the anther will also be haploid. Haploid plants are sterile because where there is an odd number of chromosome sets reproductive fertility is usually impaired. This is because during cell division the normal pairing of chromosome can not properly take place since one set of chromosomes will have no homologous set to pair with, and as such gametes fail to form. The first step of this strategy is to investigate plant hormones that are suitab...
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This chapter begins with an overview of organic farming and considers the place of education within it. Focusing primarily on the goals and structure of courses and curricula in the academic environment, it presents the experience of a... more
This chapter begins with an overview of organic farming and considers the place of education within it. Focusing primarily on the goals and structure of courses and curricula in the academic environment, it presents the experience of a small group of educators in setting up course units and programmes in the Nordic region and in the USA. Important questions related to agricultural education are considered, and the chapter concludes with a set of perspectives considered useful for the conceptual and structural changes needed towards designing an appropriate learning landscape for organic agriculture.
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Research Interests: Psychology and CRC
This chapter highlights key issues affecting returns to management in organic agriculture, often comparing them with returns to management on a conventional farm. Production, input costs, output prices, premiums and subsidies are... more
This chapter highlights key issues affecting returns to management in organic agriculture, often comparing them with returns to management on a conventional farm. Production, input costs, output prices, premiums and subsidies are discussed to arrive at the farm profitability on established organic farms. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in organic farming are also identified.
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Organic agriculture is a production system that aims at sustaining healthy soils, ecosystems and people by prohibiting the application of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers in crop production and by emphasising animal welfare in... more
Organic agriculture is a production system that aims at sustaining healthy soils, ecosystems and people by prohibiting the application of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers in crop production and by emphasising animal welfare in livestock breeding. This article shows that organic agriculture is characterised by higher soil quality and reduced nutrient or pesticide leaching compared to nonorganic agriculture, but that positive effects on biological control services or emission of greenhouse gases are less evident. Yield gaps between organic and nonorganic agriculture are on average 20%, but vary between crops and regions. Given the environmental risks that are associated with intensive, nonorganic agriculture, farming practices should be modified to decrease risks. Organic agriculture can be a more environmentally friendly alternative, but individual farming practices need improvement to meet the demands of a growing human population. Further growth of the organic farming sector will contribute to reduce the negative environmental impact of agriculture.
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A large proportion (over 12 per cent) of international and non-English speaking background (NESB) postgraduate research students enrol in engineering and information technology (IT) programs in Australian universities. They find... more
A large proportion (over 12 per cent) of international and non-English speaking background (NESB) postgraduate research students enrol in engineering and information technology (IT) programs in Australian universities. They find themselves in an advanced research culture, and are technically and scientifically challenged early in their programs. This is in addition to cultural, social and religious isolation and linguistic barriers they have to contend with. The project team surveyed this cohort at QUT and UWA, on the hypothesis that they face challenges that are more discipline-specific. The results of the survey indicate that existing supervisory frameworks which are limited to linguistic contexts are not fully assisting these students and supervisors to achieve high quality research. The goal of this project is to extend these supervisory frameworks to a holistic model that will address the unique needs and supervisory issues these students face in engineering and IT disciplines. The model will be useable by all other Australian universities.
ABSTRACT Reduced flower pigmentation in the legume Swainsona formosa is associated with increased susceptibility to Phytophthora cinnamomi and other soil-borne pathogens. This study aimed to identify the mechanism for these differences in... more
ABSTRACT Reduced flower pigmentation in the legume Swainsona formosa is associated with increased susceptibility to Phytophthora cinnamomi and other soil-borne pathogens. This study aimed to identify the mechanism for these differences in susceptibility. Chemical analyses of stem tissues that had been previously inoculated with P. cinnamomi revealed that neither anthocyanin nor total phenolic content increased with infection. Such results suggested that observed differences in susceptibility, as indicated by flower colour, were related to preformed rather than induced stem chemistry. Acetone extracts from healthy, uninfected stem tissues of a red-flowered line were highly toxic to the fungus, while extracts from a white-flowered line were non-toxic and those from a pink-flowered line were intermediate in toxicity and this was correlated with the total phenolic and proanthocyanidin concentration of the extracts. Precipitation of proanthocyanidins with bovine serum albumen removed the toxicity of the extracts. It was concluded that differences in the proanthocyanidin content of tissues contributed to the differences in disease susceptibility of plants with different flower colours.
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Research Interests: Engineering and ICERI
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LEAFSE is the catch word for an innovative program of exchange study for young Australians and Europeans, with organic agriculture as the focal point of their Masters level studies. Two years ago, the European Commission and the... more
LEAFSE is the catch word for an innovative program of exchange study for young Australians and Europeans, with organic agriculture as the focal point of their Masters level studies. Two years ago, the European Commission and the Australian Department of Education, ...
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Research Interests: Biology, Tomato, Auxin, Capsicum, Eggplant, and 3 moreCallus, Incompatibility, and Horticultural production
This work was conducted to establish the relationship between microspore developmental stage and length of the floral bud in glasshouse-grown Sturt’s desert pea, a native Australian legume. The stages of microspore development were... more
This work was conducted to establish the relationship between microspore developmental stage and length of the floral bud in glasshouse-grown Sturt’s desert pea, a native Australian legume. The stages of microspore development were segregated into tetrad, early-uninucleate, mid-uninucleate and late-uninucleate. The results showed that there was a strong relationship between microspore developmental stage and floral bud length. The tetrad stage lasted longer than early-, mid- or late-uninucleate stages. The attempted induction of androgenesis in Sturt’s desert pea using anthers from floral buds with similar size, as in the present work, was unsuccessful. This indicated that other factors, such as medium composition, plant hormones, pre-treatment and environmental conditions, also need to be optimised in addition to appropriate microspore developmental stage.
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Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, (G.Don) J.Thompson, is a legume native to Australia with a vibrant colour of flowers. The economic importance of this plant is in its ornamental use in hanging baskets and containers or for cut... more
Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, (G.Don) J.Thompson, is a legume native to Australia with a vibrant colour of flowers. The economic importance of this plant is in its ornamental use in hanging baskets and containers or for cut flowers both in Australia and abroad. The production of a large amount of pollen grains in the flower is a major impediment in the commercialisation of this plant. Petal staining by pollen as well as self-pollination during transport reduces the quality of flowers. Producing sterile plants via anther culture is, therefore, the focus of present work. Anthers from floral buds approximately 1.3 – 1.5 cm long were obtained from glasshouse grown plants. After surface sterilisation in 70% ethanol for 10 seconds anthers were dissected out of the buds and their filaments were removed. The anthers were cultured on B5 medium supplemented with vitamins and 2% sucrose. The effect of media types (solid, liquid, paper bridges), light spectra [white (390-760nm); blue (...
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Background: There is increasing enrolment of international students in the Engineering and Information Technology disciplines and anecdotal evidence of a need for additional understanding and support for these students and their... more
Background: There is increasing enrolment of international students in the Engineering and Information Technology disciplines and anecdotal evidence of a need for additional understanding and support for these students and their supervisors due to differences both in academic and social cultures. While there is a growing literature on supervisory styles and guidelines on effective supervision, there is little on discipline-specific, cross-cultural supervision responding to the growing diversity. In this paper, we report findings from a study of Engineering and Information technology Higher Degree Research (HDR) students and supervision in three Australian universities. Purpose: The aim was to assess perceptions of students and supervisors of factors influencing success that are particular to international or culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) HDR students in Engineering and Information technology. Design/Method: Online survey and qualitative data was collected from interna...
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An experiment was conducted to determine the association between endogenous proline and the embryogenic potential of callus mass proliferated from the anther wall tissue of Swainsonia formosa. Callus proliferation was initiated from... more
An experiment was conducted to determine the association between endogenous proline and the embryogenic potential of callus mass proliferated from the anther wall tissue of Swainsonia formosa. Callus proliferation was initiated from anthers containing microspores at early- to late-uninucleate stages pre-treated with water or mannitol starvation at 4 oC for 2 days, and cultured on a double-phase B5 medium supplemented with vitamins, 2% sucrose and 49.3 μM IBA and 4.61 μM zeatin. Ficoll-400 was added at 5 to 20% (w/v) concentrations to enhance embryogenic callus formation. After 4 weeks in total darkness, cultures were placed under cool fluorescent light with an intensity of 50 μmol m-2 s-1 for a 16 hour photoperiod at 25 1 oC. Somatic embryos were successfully regenerated from embryogenic callus. Non-embryogenic callus continued to grow, and resulted in further callus proliferation when transferred to a regeneration medium supplemented with 1% sucrose and 4.63 μM kinetin. Microsco...
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The interactions of 3 cultivars of soybean (Banjalong, Melrose and Valiant) with Powell's amaranth (Amaranthus powellii), paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum) and nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus) was studied using different... more
The interactions of 3 cultivars of soybean (Banjalong, Melrose and Valiant) with Powell's amaranth (Amaranthus powellii), paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum) and nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus) was studied using different systems. A glasshouse experiment was conducted to determine soybean response towards weeds at different density levels. Hydroponic culture was included to study the allelopathic effects of the weed extracts on soybean root growth
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Callus growth was induced on media containing IAA (0.57, 5.71, 57.1 µM and IBA (0.49, 4.93, 49.3 µM were combined with BA (0.44, 4.44, 44.4 µM), kinetin (0.46, 4.63, 46.3 µM), 2iP (0.49, 4.93, 49.3 µM) and zeatin (0.46, 4.61, 46.1 µM).... more
Callus growth was induced on media containing IAA (0.57, 5.71, 57.1 µM and IBA (0.49, 4.93, 49.3 µM were combined with BA (0.44, 4.44, 44.4 µM), kinetin (0.46, 4.63, 46.3 µM), 2iP (0.49, 4.93, 49.3 µM) and zeatin (0.46, 4.61, 46.1 µM). The result indicated that callus formation was significantly affected by IAA + BA, IBA + BA, IBA + 2iP, IBA + kinetin and IBA + zeatin. Among IAA combinations, IAA at 5.71 µM or 57.1 µM in combination with 44.4 µM BA produced the highest callus formation (26%). Meanwhile, with the use of IBA the highest callus formation (38%) was obtained on 49.3 µM IBA + 0.44 µM BA, followed by 36% on 4.49 µM IBA + 44.4 µM 2iP, 4.93 µM IBA + 4.63 µM kinetin and 0.49 µM IBA + 4.61 µM zeatin, respectively. The texture and colour of callus varied widely from being compact to friable and white translucent to dark green in colour depending on the types of plant hormones used. However, green embryogenic callus was formed on media supplemented with IBA + kinetin and IBA + z...
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ABSTRACT Chromosome number has been determined for Start's Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, a legume endemic to Australia. Mitotic chromosome counts of 2n = 16 were found in root tip squashes and meiotic chromosome counts of n = 8... more
ABSTRACT Chromosome number has been determined for Start's Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, a legume endemic to Australia. Mitotic chromosome counts of 2n = 16 were found in root tip squashes and meiotic chromosome counts of n = 8 were found in microspore mother cells.
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... Since the early obser-vation of van Leeuwenhoek in citrus seeds in 1719 (Mahesh-wari, 1950[88]), asexual embryogenesis has been reported in several plant species, including many members of Legumino-sae (Tisserat et al., 1979[150];... more
... Since the early obser-vation of van Leeuwenhoek in citrus seeds in 1719 (Mahesh-wari, 1950[88]), asexual embryogenesis has been reported in several plant species, including many members of Legumino-sae (Tisserat et al., 1979[150]; Dhawan and Bhojwani, 1985[35 ...
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This report provides an overview of the results of a collaborative research project titled "A model for research supervision of international students in engineering and information technology disciplines". This project aimed to... more
This report provides an overview of the results of a collaborative research project titled "A model for research supervision of international students in engineering and information technology disciplines". This project aimed to identify factors influencing the success of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) higher degree research (HDR) students in the fields of Engineering and Information Technology at three Australian Universities: Queensland University of Technology, The University of Western Australia and Curtin University.
With global revenue surpassing twenty-five billion dollars annually, organic agriculture is a highly visible and rapidly growing component of agricultural production. In Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective, Paul Kristiansen, Acram... more
With global revenue surpassing twenty-five billion dollars annually, organic agriculture is a highly visible and rapidly growing component of agricultural production. In Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective, Paul Kristiansen, Acram Taji, and John Reganold, and their international group of contributors scientifically review key aspects of organic agriculture. At the intersection of research, education, and practice, the contributors look at the organic agricultural movement’s successes and limitations. The first half of this book critically evaluates the agricultural production of both plants and livestock in organic farming systems. All major aspects of organic agriculture are explored, including historical background and underlying principles, soil-fertility management, crop and animal production, breeding strategies, and crop protection. This global and comprehensive overview also addresses the economic, social, and political aspects of organic farming. These include economic...