Understanding mesocotyl elongation in rice

Main supervisor: Dr Peter Eastmond 

Farmers are moving from puddled transplanted rice towards direct seeding (DS) as labour and water availability decline, and their costs rise. Seedling vigour is crucial for crop establishment when cultivating rice by DS and mesocotyl elongation is an important component, aiding emergence from deeper beneath the soil. We have recently developed new high-throughput phenotyping platforms and screened ~700 sequenced rice accessions for seedling vigour traits (inc. mesocotyl elongation) in both lab and field, working with researchers at the International Rice Research Institute and Punjab Agricultural University. The aim of this PhD project is to use these resources to determine how mesocotyl elongation is controlled, thereby contributing in the development of new DS rice varieties. The student will be part of a well-established international collaboration and will gain experience in multiple disciplines including crop physiology, phenomics, transcriptomics, modelling and statistical genetics.

To apply: email Dr Peter Eastmond with your CV and a covering letter.

Deadline: 31 December 2020