212-406 Crop & Pasture Physiology

212-205 Environmental Infomatics and 212-304 Plant Production.

Students should develop an understanding of the productive processes that determine growth and yield in crop and pasture communities. They should also develop skills in critically analysing literature and in designing and conducting experiments.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to understand the interactions between plant canopies and the environment that determine yield and product quality; synthesise information from a range of disciplines including plant anatomy and physiology, biochemistry and engineering (environmental physics); critically analyse literature on physiological and agronomic topics; set up and conduct experiments to test hypotheses; and interpret experimental results and report their findings in seminars and written reports.

The main sections are phenological development; light interception, carbon economy; water use; responses to environmental stresses, including drought and salinity; nutrient economy; and pasture management.

A 3-hour end-of-semester written examination and two written assignments of no more than 4000 words each.