Natasha Teakle, raised on a farm at Cunderdin and with a personal interest in salinity, has been studying how the perennial pasture legume, narrow-leafed birdsfoot trefoil or Lotus tenuis, tolerates salinity and water logging.

Ms Teakle, a PhD student in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Western Australia, has been supported by a Grains Research and Development Corporation scholarship.

L. tenuis, naturalised in the Pampas region of Argentina, had been identified as a priority species by the Cooperative Research Centre for Future Farm Industries.

Ms Teakle has been able to demonstrate that the gene NHX bestows salt tolerance and improves sodium transport in the plant.

Grains Research and Development Corporation supported PhD student Georgie Holbeche is studying geochemical and hydrological factors which influence deep agricultural drains.

Ms Holbeche is using x-ray diffraction to determine the mineralogy of soils in the drains.

“There are more than 10,000 kilometres of drainage in WA’s Wheatbelt and drain construction is a costly business for farmers,” she said.

“Most of the Wheatbelt is comprised of kaolinite, quartz and feldspar.”

Ms Holbeche, from the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Western Australia, aims to identify preferred soil characteristics for agricultural drain construction.