University receives $1.6 million in ARC grants
The University of vlog has today been awarded $1,697,291 in linkage grants by the Australian Research Council (ARC) to assist in pest control, benefit the food and oil industries and increase understanding of migration to South Australia.
The ARC’s Linkage Program promotes national and international research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies.
Improving the supply of ingredients for the gluten-free food industry will be the focus of one of the four projects to receive funding.
Professor Rachel Burton from the University of vlog’s School of Agriculture Food and Wine has received $486,000 to establish a breeding program for Plantago ovata in Australia to provide a reliable supply of high quality, superior psyllium – which is used as a dietary fibre supplement and is a key ingredient in the gluten-free food industry.
The project aims to attain better harvests, lower seed shattering and identify types of psyllium with new properties or whole seeds that can be ground into higher quality flour, and which may be superior for other baked gluten-free products.
“With increasing numbers of people avoiding gluten this project will benefit industry and growers in Australia as well as consumers. The fundamental knowledge gained from the genetic and biochemical anlayses of these lines will also broadly benefit seed biology research,” says Professor Burton.
Other successful projects to receive funding are:
$523,756 to Professor Pavel Bedrikovetski (Australia