Plant researchers have developed an online application that predicts how crop growth is affected by photosynthetic changes at the molecular, cellular or leaf level of plants. Read publication in Functional Plant Biology here .
Food production depends on photosynthesis, the process by which plants capture sunlight and convert it into plant growth, biomass and grain. In the next decades, the world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion and food demand will increase significantly, so improving photosynthesis has become a global research priority.
“Enhancing photosynthesis has the potential to increase crop yields, but the link between photosynthesis and crop productivity is not straightforward because it crosses multiple scales of biological organisation. We created modelling tools that help us navigate through these complexities to identify targets that have the greatest impact on crop yield,” says Dr Alex Wu, a researcher with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CoETP) at the University of Queensland.
Alex, Wu, Alastair Doherty, Graham Farquhar and Graeme Hammer. Simulating daily field crop canopy photosynthesis: an integrated software package. Functional Plant Biology, November 2017 doi.org/10.1071/fp17225 Access the article page here.
