Cold plasma is an ionised gas that is an environmentally friendly treatment, leaves no residues and can effectively manage both fungi and insect pests. This review highlights issues with current grain management practices in Australia and demonstrates the ability of cold plasma to treat fungi, mycotoxins and insect pests. We believe this technology has much potential as a new treatment for Australian grain.

This study evaluated the effect of different seed-priming techniques on the performance of two bread wheat cultivars (Seher-2006 and Shafaq-2006) planted in rows spaced at 22.5 or 30 cm. Planting osmoprimed seeds of cv. Seher-2006 in 22.5-cm spaced rows could be effectively used to increase productivity and economic returns.

Understanding source–sink relations is important for improving grain yield in wheat. Estimations of reductions in source (i.e. assimilates produced by photosynthesis) on the basis of light attenuation (shading) could be flawed due to methodological biases. In this work we analysed several physiological aspects (e.g. photosynthesis) of source manipulation by meshes.

Common buckwheat is a valuable crop plant, rich in dietary fibre and rutin, with high protein content and well-balanced amino acid composition. The main problem in buckwheat cultivation is low seed yield due to susceptibility to thermal stress, which results in disturbance to embryological development and high flower and embryo abortion. We found that heat-shock protein HSP-70, which was present in high amounts in buds and open and wilted flowers, could protect them from heat stress.

Many cultivated crops are experiencing threats to the changing climatic conditions in recent years. Therefore, identifying genotypes resilient to various climatic conditions and mining of novel genes/alleles related to biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in underutilised crops such as lathyrus will help to breed better varieties in coming years through markers assisted breeding and genomic selection. Here, we report significant marker–trait associations for plant phenology and yield-related traits in grass pea using SSR markers.

The capacity for CO₂ assimilation and response to nitrogen fertilisation by grasses from South American natural grasslands depends on the species present. Grasslands with species of high specific leaf area (SLA) and low leaf dry matter content (LDMC) have higher response potential to nitrogen fertilisation, with increase of 20% in leaf area and also have a potential 13 times higher for CO₂ sequestration than grasslands with species with low SLA and high LDMC.

Plant growth is often limited by low water and phosphorus (P) availability in most soils in arid and semi-arid areas. We investigated the effects of soil type, water supply and P supply on plant growth and P and nitrogen nutrition of lucerne. The results showed that soil type and P supply had greater effects than water supply, and provide a scientific basis for pasture development in arid and semi-arid areas.