Proceedings

Applying photosynthesis research to improvement of food crops

Date released
12 December 2013
Publication Code
PR140
Authors

Jill E. Gready, Simon A. Dwyer and John R. Evans (eds)

Overview

The major focus of crop productivity research in recent decades has been on improving drought and salt tolerance, water and fertiliser use efficiency, and disease and pest control. However, by themselves they are unlikely to be sufficient to meet future food security demands. Therefore it is time to look at new approaches, including increasing the photosynthetic efficiency of crop plants, better using the non-limiting inputs of sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air. ACIAR sponsored a workshop at the Australian National University that addressed strategies for developing and applying research on photosynthesis to improving food crops. The papers are published in these proceedings.