Stripe rust (or yellow rust), caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the important foliar diseases of wheat and responsible for low yield. Spring wheat germplasm, HRMSN-81, with resistance to the most dominant races in China, was crossed with susceptible wheat genotype Taichung 29 and genetic analysis showed that HRMSN-81 has a single dominant gene conferring all-stage resistance. The identification of the gene YrHRMSN-81 and the determination of the flanking markers should be useful for its rapid transfer to wheat breeding programs.

Yield improvement and predictions depends on our ability to identify relevant secondary traits at the crop level closely associated with final yield. We studied different traits in different sorghum materials at different environments, and found important variability that was not previously reported. It is concluded that these traits should be considered by crop breeders and modellers to improve yield or yield predictions.

Increasing temperature increased palmitic and oleic acid percentages and reduced stearic and linoleic acid percentages in high stearic and high stearic, high oleic sunflower genotypes. The high oleic mutation reduced the variation in fatty acid concentrations. This information is useful for selecting the environment in which to produce grains with the desired quality.

White clover is an important pasture legume species, providing high nutritional quality along with benefits to the environment. A number of key agronomic traits are amenable to modification through use of transgenic technology, including disease and pest resistance, enhanced nutrition, seed production and tolerance to environmental stresses. The current status and future prospects for such approaches are described and evaluated.

Perennial ryegrass is an important forage food source for grazing livestock in the dairy and red-meat industries. Maintenance of seed germination and viability of fungal endophytes, in association with the host plant, are vital factors for ensuring seed quality during long-term storage. This paper describes a method involving seed exposure to high temperature and humidity conditions to mimic the natural long-term ageing process, providing a method for discrimination of seed quality for commercial application in the pasture industry.

Greenhouse experiments were conducted to examine the effect of S supply in two tropical species: Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania and Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Mineirão. The results indicate that S limitation increases nitrate-N and free amino acid pools while decreasing plant growth rates and soluble protein concentrations in these forage species.

With the climate predicted to become warmer there is interest in the performance of heat-tolerant and deep-rooted subtropical pasture grasses, such as kikuyu, compared to temperate species, such as perennial ryegrass. This study modelled production of ryegrass and kikuyu-based pastures in south eastern Australia. With warming, the growing period of kikuyu was extended but its production was highly variable from year-to-year. In winter-dominant rainfall regions, kikuyu will not reach its full warm-season production potential unless seasonal rainfall patterns change.

New pasture species are required to provide green feed in summer-autumn in southern Australia. We examined survival and herbage production of novel perennial legumes at two sites in the low-rainfall cropping zone of Western Australia for two years under four plant densities and four cutting frequencies. Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata (tedera) produced significant amounts of summer forage, with 8–16 plants/m² and 3 cuts/year optimal for survival and productivity. Native legumes Cullen australasicum and C. pallidum warrant further study.