Murdoch University has won this year’s Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest, beating Australian and international competition at the event in Armidale, New South Wales.

A PhD researcher at Murdoch University has discovered that beef cattle with more musculature have better meat,  benefiting both the cattle industry and consumers.

EIGHT University of Western Australia (UWA) postgraduate students presented diverse PhD research projects at The UWA Institute of Agriculture ‘Frontiers in Agriculture Postgraduate Showcase 2010’, proving to an audience of farmers, academics, scientists, industry and government representatives that agriculture’s future is in very capable hands.

WITH increasing population placing food high on the global agenda, WA researchers are at the forefront of sustainable, profitable, high-yield agriculture.

A WA study into microencapsulated zinc oxide (ZnO) as a treatment for reducing post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in piglets will prove to be of significant benefit to pork producers and the environment.

To encourage the 2010 growing of Berkshire, the new high yielding triticale, meetings of triticale growers, agronomists, pork producers and feed mills were recently hosted by Australia’s Pork Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), co-developer of the variety with The University of Sydney and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

SHANGHAI University scientists and researchers from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) are working together in a bid to offer new research leads into the treatments for diabetes.

ALTHOUGH genetically modified canola can now be grown in Western Australia, it still needs to be carefully managed according Curtin researchers James Fisher and Peter Tozer.

MERINO sheep are the focus of a new study at UWA to determine the most efficient and economical breeding strategies for farmers.

NEW research shows that several weed species have grown resistant to the most widely used herbicide in farming, glyphosate.

A RECENT reunion of 1972 agricultural science graduates from The University of Western Australia (UWA) revealed the diversity of career paths taken.

ACCORDING to University of Western Australia (UWA) Winthrop Professor and Institute of Agriculture director Kadambot Siddique, one of the most pressing questions in his field is “Can agriculture adapt to climate change?”

THE next time you’re trying to lose a few pesky pounds, consider reaching for a tub of yoghurt, a glass of milk and a few slices of cheese.

Genetically modified (GM) canola trials have begun in WA and pro-GM scientists say the debate, which surrounds biotechnology as a whole, needs to be based on sound science and widely-available information.

According to Professor Mark Tester, director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, traditional techniques for gene modification limited modifications to those occurring between closely related organisms. Pro-GM advocates believe a firm scientific grounding ensures the safety of GM foods / Image: Istockphoto

“New GM can be used for similar types of gene modifications, but it also enables the transfer of genes between any two organisms, including between a plant and an organism from another kingdom,” Professor Tester says.

Professor Tester says the risks from many GM applications are not too different to their conventionally-bred counterparts but it would be wrong to say differences did not exist.

“Each GM case must be considered separately by plant scientists and concerns raised that are unique to new GM should be seriously considered to assess their validity.

Professor Tester says even if a particular concern is valid, it is important that neither side of the debate resort to over-simplified generalisations or opportunities for the wider use of new GM technologies could be permanently lost.

“One can question some of the current commercial applications, and I think it’s fair enough to ask those questions, but this doesn’t mean that all applications of GM will necessarily have these types of DNA for which questions can be asked.”

According to Richard Oliver, professor of molecular plant pathology at Murdoch University, GM crops are likely to increase health by reducing yield loss, herbicide and fungicide use, and mycotoxin contamination.

Professor Oliver says as a plant scientist, consumer and parent, he is happy to eat GM foods because all reasonable testing has been done.

“You can always speculate that the fourth generation of people who use a dash of GM-grown canola oil on the fourth Tuesday of every month might get more cold sores, in 80 years’ time.

“We can’t formally rule it out but we also can’t readily do an experiment to test the idea.

“Some ideas don’t lend themselves to experimental testing - do we need to test that using a parachute is a safer way of jumping out of aeroplanes than not using a parachute?”

Professor Tester says scientific research often involves a level of assumption-based reasoning.

“I guess the issue with GM crops is that you do tests, more tests than any other food products, but they still haven’t demonstrated absolute certainty about safety.

“Sure we could always do more food testing but where do you stop?”

Professor Tester says people are right to ask questions about GM because it’s a new and powerful technology.

“When it comes to GM, it is important to give people as much information as possible and we really need to have this type of dialogue to try to chip away at people’s conceptions.  “All of this discussion is much less relevant if we think we are just changing genes that are in the plants at any rate and not producing a product that is significantly any different to what a breeder would produce.”

Professor Tester says in his own work he is trying to make plants more salt-tolerant.

“We’re actually messing with plant genes in plants and turning them on with promoters which are DNA that come from plants.

“It’s just plant genes in plants and I really don’t think that’s hugely different to what breeders have been trying to do for 10,000s of years.

“If you get something like Monsanto’s BT toxin, you can ask hard questions about that, and I think that’s fair enough, but when it comes to me messing with salt transporters in the roots of wheat plants, well… I really think you should be asking me a different set of questions.”

Historically, many controversies over scientific advances are based on ethical concerns and some research into GM foods raises deeply-felt objections by scientists, medical practitioners and consumers. An international agreement on bio-safety, the Cartagena Protocol, defines a genetically modified organism (GMO) as any recipient of manipulated nucleic acids, including DNA.

Since their commercialisation 13 years ago, genetically modified (GM) insect and herbicide resistant corn, soy and canola crops are now grown worldwide.

AN ECU researcher is leading a team that aims to make breakthroughs in the way different users and regions share water resources.

RESEARCHERS at the Department of Agriculture and Food WA are involved in a project to improve the quality of WA wines by identifying the best genetic grape materials for local conditions.

THE Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA) has recently appointed Dr YongLin Ren as principal scientist to lead and manage its stored grain research team.

SUSTAINABLE practices for food industries require a top to bottom approach, from initial production to final consumption, according to a food expert at a recent seminar.