Ed Barrett-Lennard

Ed is the leader of a GRDC project ‘Managing sodic and magnesic soils’ and a team member in a GRDC project on subsoil constraints. Australia has the most extensive area of sodic/magnesic soils in the world. One consequence of this is that salt (from rainfall) and other osmotica (like fertilisers) can accumulate in the soil profile, creating a ‘chemical soup’ that decreases the osmotic potential and increases the toxicity of the soil solution. In WA, ~1.9 million hectares are affected which costs growers ~$90 million per year. The productive penalties become more important as seasonal (May-October) rainfall decreases below 200mm. Ed is also managing a project using the New Genes for New Environments (NGNE) facilities at Merredin and Katanning. In partnership with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics we are phenotyping transgenic wheat and barley genotypes for tolerance to soil acidity, salinity and drought, and traits associated with increased Fe in grain.