November 10th, 2021Students given grain opportunity

Six PhD students have been chosen to help with research as part of the Victorian Grains
Innovation Partnership (VGIP) between Agriculture Victoria and the Grains Research and
Development Corporation (GRDC).
The partnership aims to improve the enduring profitability of Victorian and Australian grain growers
through world class research and innovation.
All regionally based, the six PhD students are completing their fellowships at Grains Innovation
Park in Horsham with support and mentorship from scientists at Agriculture Victoria and Melbourne
University. The PhD research fellowships are part of the Centre for Agricultural Innovation (CAI), a
joint initiative between Agriculture Victoria and The University of Melbourne.
Agriculture Victoria Research Director and Grains Innovation Park site leader Traci Griffin said she
was excited to be hosting the PhD students whose work will further build the research and
innovation capability and capacity for the grains industry.
“These fellowships are key to the development of the future workforce in grains research and
Agriculture Victoria is proud to provide this opportunity and mentorship. The research projects
tackle different issues southern grain growers face and the results will have far reaching impacts
for the sector.”
GRDC interim Managing Director Cathie Warburton said the Australian grains industry needed
people with specialist skills to progress research and innovation to ensure the sector’s ongoing
success and viability.
“GRDC is committed to supporting and encouraging students through initiatives such as this one,
as part of our strategy to build research capacity and capability,” she said.
“Our partnership with VGIP helps ensure some of our most innovative and talented PhD students
have the opportunity to be involved in projects that will have an impact at a paddock level as well
as on a national and global scale.”
The successful six PhD students will be working on areas of Profitable Pulse Crops and Bridging
the Profitability Gap.
• Sachesh Silwal is evaluating the agronomic suitability of mungbean to farming systems
within southern Australia by defining the phenology, water and nitrogen dynamics of this
alternative crop across a range of growing environments within Victoria. Sachesh is also
assessing the opportunity for improved adaptation through genetic screening.
• Spencer Fan is undertaking an environmental analysis of potential effectiveness of different
root ideotypes for different soil types for southern Australia environments using both
historical and future predicted climate records.
• Bhawana Bhattarai is investigating the effects of storage strategies on grain quality to
identify best storage practices and enable grain growers to better maintain grain quality and
value prior to sale. Key grain characteristics, including colour, appearance, seed damage
and integrity are influenced by on farm storage conditions.
• Keshia Savage is examining the relationship between soil physicochemical properties and
the response of grain crops to different management interventions on a 3D spatial scale.
Keshia’s research project involves controlled environment and field research and will use a
range of soil and crop sensing technologies.
• Amit Adhakari is developing and assessing the potential of new management strategies
designed to improve the capture and utilisation of rainfall by grain crops in future climates.
Amit’s research involves laboratory, glasshouse, field and computer simulation studies.
• Danielle Yidan Tang is investigating the use of sensor technologies to determine grain
quality prior to harvest. Grain quality is a major determinant of on-farm profitability and can
vary spatially across farms. With the increasing availability of sensor technologies there is
an opportunity to segregate grain for targeted quality traits at, or following, harvest to
maximise crop value.
More information about PhD research fellowship opportunities can be found on the Agriculture
Victoria website