He will oversee RBA’s breeding program which has a particular focus on accelerating the rates of genetic gain for water productivity in Australian rice in line with the industry goals detailed in the AgriFutures Rice Program Strategic RD&E Plan (2021-2026).
RBA is a new not-for-profit company involving AgriFutures Australia, the SunRice Group and The Ricegrowers' Association of Australia and its members, established to fast track rates of genetic gain in rice breeding.
Greater rates of genetic gain mean rice growers can expect new improved rice varieties sooner and more frequently than before.
In his previous role as post-doctoral research fellow for the University of Queensland, Dr Proud’s research focused on the genetic control of cold tolerance in rice and identifying and better understanding traits likely to be important in aerobic rice production systems.
“As part of this research I was exploring high value traits to improve the water productivity of rice in temperate Australia,” Dr Proud said.
“This research involved developing and validating molecular markers that can be used for high throughput selection for improved cold tolerance, testing different breeding methods to increase rates of genetic gain for cold tolerance and continually developing improved cold tolerance and aerobic-adapted germplasm for use as parents in the rice breeding program.”
This research has been able to identify several small parts of the chromosomes of rice (QTLs) involved in the control of cold tolerance.
Early indications are that when these QTLs are combined, they can deliver a much higher level of cold tolerance than is now available in Australian rice varieties.
Following on from this success, Dr Proud is now setting his sights on an ambitious goal to accelerate the breeding of rice varieties in line with the industry supported and designed AgriFutures Rice Program Strategic RD&E Plan (2021-2026).
“The primary aim for the industry is to develop improved water productivity of varieties to enable the industry to reach a goal of 1.5 tonnes of rice grown per megalitre of water,” he said.
“A key factor in achieving improved water productivity is the development of cold tolerant rice varieties”.
Dr Proud joins Dr Georgina Pengilley, who was appointed as inaugural CEO of RBA in September last year.
Despite the ambitious nature of the industry’s water productivity goal, Dr Proud is looking forward to the challenge of developing varieties that will contribute towards a more profitable and sustainable Australian rice industry.
“I’m motivated about our goals. I like a challenge and given the work that is already happening to develop the right germplasm I think we can meet the water productivity goal.”
16°C