Varietal mixtures based on complementary above and below ground physiological and disease resistance traits can stabilise yield and improve water-use efficiency. Significant mixture effects on grain yield, abiotic stress tolerance, weed- infestation, lodging, disease expression and processing quality have been observed in cereal grains and legumes.

Iranian wheat evaluated to obtain the tolerance to salinity stress in comparison with normal environment. The results of analyses showed high broad-sense heritability under normal (H²_b = 0.61) and saline conditions (H²_b = 0.55) for grain yield. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation showed that biomass, harvest index and spike-associated traits had the positive correlations with grain yield in both conditions and those can be used for enhancing grain yield indirectly.

This paper presents the first study of GE interactions of triticale in Australia under irrigated production systems. We conducted trials on 101 triticale genotypes at two locations over 4 years under intensive irrigated management practices and measured the yield potential, GE interactions, heritability and estimated genetic gain of yield, lodging resistance and several other traits important for breeding triticale.

Water productivity and quality characteristics of photo-period sensitive basmati cultivars can be increased by planting them late in the period of low evaporative demand in north-west India. For photo-period insensitive basmati cultivars, short duration cultivars helped in increasing water productivity and quality characteristics.

Three soybean RIL populations were subjected to severe but transient drought in the glasshouse. Genetic differences were detected within and between populations for relative water content, epidermal conductance and leaf survival during the stress, and for recovery after re-watering. The population which had the oilseed varieties Valder and CPI26671 as parents generally showed weaker recovery than the other populations that had the landrace variety G2120 as a parent.

In an evaluation of DArT technology in soybean, large numbers of markers including several QTLs relating to drought stress response were identified. The sequences of 18 selected QTLs all aligned with known genomic regions, some of which were already reported to harbour drought-related QTLs but most of which were novel. While the new QTLs were of relatively minor effect, the DArT technology allows many genotypes to be genotyped simultaneously.

Pearl millet is an important fodder for cattle feed and can be used for fuel ethanol production in dry areas. Irrigation level and atmospheric CO₂ concentration influence the development of pearl millet, which also establishes symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi. These factors all affected the accumulation of proteins and sugars in leaves, thus affecting the quality of pearl millet for different practical uses.

When a selection of 55 historic, current and potential new Australian canola and mustard varieties were field screened to determine their relative levels of resistance to Sclerotinia Stem Rot, mean lesion length following stem inoculation with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum pathotype 76 ranged from 3 mm in Brassica napus Mystic to 203 mm in B. juncea Xceed X121 CL. A histological study showed that this high level resistance in Mystic was associated with strong deposition of lignin in stem cortical cell walls to form a barrier between the invading pathogen and the vascular tissues and breeding programs can immediately utilize this resistance to improve future Australian cultivars. That there was no association between mean lesion length and the year of varietal release, shows there has been no improvement in level of resistance to SSR in Australian canola and mustard varieties over the past two decades.

A single leaf that can be used to evaluate seedling growth and assimilate accumulation of oilseed rape is of great significance to conduct research into the crop. The morphological and physiological characteristics of various functional leaves were compared with the characteristics of whole plant at seedling stage. The results revealed that the fifth leaf is most suitable to represent the whole seedling plant for evaluation of winter oilseed rape.

Introgression of genes from Trifolium uniflorum may improve phosphorus use efficiency in white clover. The natural habitat of T. uniflorum, impoverished Mediterranean scrubland, suggests adaptation to infertile soils. T. uniflorum exhibited traits e.g. slow growth rate, sequestering phosphate in its roots as phosphate availability  increased, that are indicative of adaptation to low phosphorus soils, and some of these traits were found in some white clover × T. uniflorum interspecific hybrids.

Extremes in water availability are an ongoing challenge to the profitability, resilience and expansion of the predominantly rainfed tea-tree oil plantation industry in Australia. This paper identifies genetic differences in the growth, morphology and development among geographically diverse sources of tea tree when grown under conditions of water deficit or excess. Drought-resistance upland sources may represent a valuable genetic resource for further domestication of tea tree.