SEMINAR: Plant Biology Research Seminar

Population growth and aspirational food consumption continue to exert increasing pressure on our ability to produce sufficient food. One agronomic practice critical for the high levels of food production we now enjoy is phosphate fertilisation, but easily obtained sources of phosphate are dwindling. At the same time that we need it for food production, phosphate fertilisation creates huge problems - phosphate-rich agricultural runoff continues to pollute and degrade freshwater and marine environments. Part of a solution to these dilemmas would be crops that are more efficient at acquiring and using phosphate, minimising the need for phosphate input and maximising its retention in the agricultural system. The Proteaceae of southwestern Australia have evolved on some of the most phosphate-impoverished soils on earth. Their evolutionary history has provided them with several traits that make them masters of phosphate use efficiency. In this seminar, I will explore our development of Hakea prostrata as a model to learn lessons about phosphate use efficiency in leaves that may allow us to develop plants that are better able to cope with lower phosphate supplies.