Giving wheat breeders hyper vision
Aswin Singaram Natarajan rolls a stem of wheat in his hands. It looks perfectly healthy, but the senior experimental scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, knows his eyes can deceive him. A plant could look green and vital and still be losing—losing too much energy or losing too much water or filling its grain to ripeness too slowly. And while these weaknesses are invisible to…
This article tells the story of a project led by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, to give wheat breeders "hyper vision" using hyperspectral technology. Senior experimental scientist Aswin Singaram Natarajan explains that while a plant might look healthy, its eyes can deceive, as it could be losing energy or water or filling its grain too slowly.
Current human eyes can only see light in red, green, and blue, but hyperspectral cameras can see hundreds of narrow light bands, stretching from ultraviolet to infrared. Each leaf reflects these bands differently based on what's happening inside, leaving a fingerprint that the camera can read.
The project, AcceleTraitPlus, is working to deliver more robust and abundant wheat varieties for Australian farmers by focusing on three key traits: optimized photosynthesis and respiration, and the rate of grain filling. Measuring the rate of grain filling is particularly valuable, as it can indicate how well a wheat variety copes with extreme heat or drought. These traits are difficult to measure on a large scale, but a hyperspectral camera mounted on a drone has made the process faster and more efficient.
The project, backed by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), is testing whether these hyperspectral tools can measure these traits faster than traditional methods. If successful, breeders could identify promising plants more quickly in the field, leading to wheat varieties with higher yield potential, better water use, and more reliable performance in tough seasons.
Dr. Anton Wasson, a project leader, emphasizes that while plant physiology research has revolutionized breeding, adoption in commercial programs has been slow due to the difficulty of measuring these traits at scale. The hyperspectral drone has proven to be a game changer, offering a middle ground between satellite imagery and close-up handheld sensors.
The project, running until 2025, is focused on testing the three most promising traits and ensuring the tools are practical for breeders.
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