Are you looking to build connections into the agriculture or food industries? Perhaps you are passionate about a particular issue or crop? Or maybe you’re looking to study for a PhD in the future? An honours degree at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture might be for you.
Working with a supervisory team, you can complete an honours project in your chosen area, whether that’s vegetable agronomy, dairy cow welfare or soil health (or anything in between). Doing an honours degree helps you to improve your problem solving, communication and project management skills and gain a better understanding of the research process.
Industry focused
Most of our honours projects are working directly with industry partners, helping you build your industry knowledge and network. Many of our honours graduates get excellent industry jobs or go on to complete further study.
Eligibility
To be eligible, students need to have completed an undergraduate degree in a science subject, or have completed the third year of their Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree at the University of Tasmania. Students who have completed an undergraduate degree at other universities are welcome to apply.
Most candidates are based on-campus at a location that is most suited to their research (Hobart, Launceston, Burnie). In some cases, candidates may be externally located (e.g. based in industry or a family farm) but supported with supervision from our staff.
Scholarships
The University of Tasmania offers scholarships in agriculture to reward and encourage students. You can even apply for multiple scholarships in one easy application. Find out more about scholarships.
Available projects
We welcome enquiries from suitably qualified potential applicants. For more information contact the Honours Coordinator Dr Apeh Omede.
Project Description: There are several freely available agricultural mathematical models on the internet. These have scales ranging from the paddock to the globe. However, most models still require some adjusting to local conditions in order to match field data or regional observations. This project will compare crop production and grain yield of selected decision-support tools (e.g. APSIM, DSSAT) and simple empirical models programmed from first principles to determine which model(s) provide better predictions with the lowest amount of model coefficient adjustment (parameterisation).
Primary Supervisor: Matthew Harrison
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: This project aims to determine whether the impact of a biostimulant, biological and a fungicide can be observed using the QUOLL enose or other agronomic or microbiological measures in a series of glasshouse trials.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Shane Powell
Industry Partner Involvement: Syngenta (will co supervise)
Student Stipend Offered: $5,000
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Experiments will be established to understand the dynamics of nodulation and re-nodulation of perennial legumes with time, and the importance of nodulation ‘persistence’ on the plant root
Primary Supervisor: Rowan Smith and Richard Hayes (NSW DPI)
Industry Partner Involvement: NSW DPI/MLA HRZ legume project
Student Stipend Offered: No, but some operating funds may be available plus opportunity to visit research sites in NSW
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: The project would investigate the specific temperature and light requirements for germination of Talish clover, an alternative perennial legume for medium-low rainfall grazing systems. It would also include investigation of appropriate scarification techniques for breaking seed dormancy. The combined knowledge gained is likely to contribute to better field establishment of this species.
Primary Supervisor: Rowan Smith, Research will be conducted at Sandy Bay with few trips to Mt Pleasant, Launceston.
Industry Partner Involvement: None
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Waste streams are being increasingly explored for alternative uses to improve sustainability and promote a circular economy. This project explores using harvest waste from the invasive long-spined sea urchin as an agricultural product.
Primary Supervisor: Harriet Walker
Industry Partner Involvement: TBA (agricultural partner), IMAS and True South Seafoods
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: Vineyard practices that increase efficiency and reduce labour, such as mechanical harvesting, can improve vineyard profitability and support industry growth. Some Tasmanian winegrape growers that use mechanical harvesting have reported no negative impacts on resultant berry and wine quality, yet anecdotally there is a belief that machine-harvesting produces inferior wines, meaning that many growers still practice hand-harvesting.
Primary supervisor: Dr Harriet Walker
Industry partner involvement: Wine Tasmania
Student stipend offered: No, but some operating funds may be available
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: There are several commercially available models, and many have been improved over time through user feedback. However, most models still require some adjusting to local conditions. This project will compare crop production and grain yield of selected decision-support tools (e.g. APSIM, DSSAT) to determine which model provides better predictions without model adjustment (parameterisation).
Primary Supervisor: Matthew Harrison
Industry Partner Involvement: No.
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: There are several commercially available models, and many have been improved over time through user feedback. However, most models still require some adjusting to local conditions. This project will compare pasture and livestock production of selected decision-support tools (e.g. GrassGro, DairyMod) to determine which model provides better predictions without model adjustment (parameterisation).
Supervisor: Matthew Harrison
Industry partner involvement: No.
Student stipend offered: No.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Research into the behaviour of lactating cows is heavily skewed toward intensive indoor systems and/or small group sizes. Very little is known about social dynamics in large groups, and particularly the implications for submissive and/or vulnerable animals in the herd. This project will investigate a number of methods to assess the dominance and leadership status of dairy cows, in an attempt to ‘streamline’ this otherwise intensive process. This project is ready to commence.
Primary Supervisor: Megan Verdon
Industry Partner Involvement: No. While this project is being conducted at the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott, it utilises electronic records so can also be conducted remotely.
Student Stipend Offered: No. Accommodation at CCC may be supported.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: New ‘virtual fencing’ technology combines GPS localisation, wireless networking and motion planning to contain and control cattle movement using sensory cues rather than physical boundaries. Previous training to associate a visual cue with electric stimulation (ie. electric fence) may diminish an animal’s ability to associate a novel audio cue with electric stimulation (ie. virtual fence technology). This study will investigate the effects of prior experience with the electric fence on the ability of cows to learn how to respond to VF technology.
Primary Supervisor: Megan Verdon
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project will be conducted at the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: New ‘virtual fencing’ technology combines GPS localisation, wireless networking and motion planning to contain and control cattle movement using sensory cues rather than physical boundaries. Protocols on how best to introduce naïve cows to virtual fencing technology in a manner that is efficient to the farmer (ie. low labour requirement, effectiveness) while protecting the welfare of the animal (ie. learning speed, retention) are required. This study will examine the effects of age of introduction on the efficiency with which cows learn to respond to the virtual fencing technology.
Primary Supervisor: Megan Verdon
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project will be conducted at the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott.
Student Stipend Offered: No. Accommodation at CCC may be supported.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: This project will parameterise systems models with current pasture characteristics then examine methods for improving productivity under livestock grazing. Farm records will be used to initialise models. Interventions for improving productivity may include modification of botanical composition (pasture species), changing stocking rates or fertiliser management, changing grazing regime etc.
Primary Supervisor: Matthew Harrison, Beth Penrose (co-supervisor)
Industry Partner Involvement: Whitehead Family Trust
Student Stipend Offered: A chance to be awarded a stipend of $6000 from the Whitehead Family Trust.
Location: Based in Burnie or Hobart.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: There is evidence that pre-calving behaviour of cows in housed dairy systems differs between cows that have poor production and health in early lactation, compared with cows that have good production and health. This project will use cow behaviour, production and health data collected at our dairy research farm in Elliott to investigate if these differences in behaviour are also present in cows in a grazing based dairy system.
Primary Supervisor: Pieter Raedts and Megan Verdon (co-supervisor)
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project is based at the Cradle Coast Campus in Burnie and will be conducted using data from the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott, but the student can be based in Hobart.
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: This project investigates if there are relationships between cow behaviour and health, for cows in early lactation in a grazing based spring calving dairy herd. Determining these relationships is much more challenging in pasture based dairy systems, due to the variation in cow activity and behaviour caused by grazing paddocks at varying distance to the dairy shed where they are milked twice daily. The distance varies between 100 meters to over a kilometre one way. This project will use data collected at our dairy research farm in Elliott such as cow behaviour (from on-cow sensors), and body weight, body condition, production and health. If relationships are found, these may form the basis for developing early warning systems for health issue of early lactation dairy cows in grazing-based systems.
Primary Supervisor: Michael Rose, Pieter Raedts (co-supervisor), James Hills (co-supervisor)
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project is based at the Cradle Coast Campus in Burnie and will be conducted using data from the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott, but the student can be based in Hobart.
Student Stipend Offered: No.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: There are a variety of areas of interest regarding nutrition of dry and lactating dairy cows and young stock, focussing mainly on quantity and/or quality of feed. Proof of concepts will be tested on our research farm in Elliott and/or on commercial dairy farms.
Primary Supervisor: Pieter Raedts
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project is based at the Cradle Coast Campus in Burnie and will be conducted using data from the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott, but the student can be based in Hobart.
Student Stipend Offered: No.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: The wool industry is heavily reliant on the use of preventive treatment with pesticides to protect sheep from flystrike. However, there are very few different pesticide groups available, and resistance is becoming common to all of these products.
A computer model has been developed to examine different management systems that influence the rate of increase of resistance of flies to the available pesticides. This has been primarily used to study management of flystrike in areas where there are two primary fly seasons, spring and autumn, or a long period of fly risk of 5-6 months. However, Tasmania has a shorter fly season, and Tasmanian wool producers may be able to use different management options from those required on the mainland.
This project will concentrate on management choices for Tasmanian wool producers to control flystrike, while limiting any increase of resistance of flies to the pesticides used.
Primary supervisor: Brian Horton
Industry partner involvement: AWI
Student stipend offered: NA
Location: Launceston or Hobart
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Meat processing company Greenham Australia is piloting a new dairy beef supply chain in Tasmania. This program aims to produce dairy origin beef cattle that address key consumer purchase drivers, including not feeding grain or grain by-products. It is hypothesised that rearing calves on a grain-free starter will delay rumen development, thereby increasing time to weaning and compromising post-weaning performance in comparison to grain-based starters. This project will assess the growth and health of dairy-beef crossbred calves reared on a grain-free calf starter in comparison to a traditional grain-based starter. The ideal candidate will have an interest and/or experience with calves. They will be involved in handling and weighing calves, health assessments, and will be trained in blood sampling.
Primary Supervisor: Megan Verdon
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: This project will be conducted at the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott.
Location: This project will be conducted at the TIA Dairy Research Facility at Elliott.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme abiotic stresses, including waterlogging. Therefore, there is a increasing demand in further understanding the mechanisms underlying waterlogging tolerance in multiple crops. A resilient root development in response to abiotic stress determines crop survival, development, grain quality and yield under waterlogging. The fast formation of the aerenchyma (air channels in root) significantly improves crop survival rate under anoxic conditions. As the ‘gates’ for water exchange and CO2 uptake in plants, stomatal guard cells also determine carbon cycles of plants, affecting plant photosynthesis especially under water-related abiotic stresses. The regulatory networks between root to shoot critically tunes the stomatal activities for optimised photosynthesis under waterlogging. However, there is no reports on root and stomatal morphological/physiological changes in crops under anoxic conditions. Therefore, how are the root to shoot regulatory networks regulated in tolerant lines vs susceptible lines?
Primary Supervisor: Dr Chenchen Zhao
Industry Partner Involvement: GRDC
Student Stipend Offered: No, but there may be the option to allocate some funding in the future.
Location: Launceston
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: Warming winters may negatively impact on insects by reducing survival overwinter. This is because warm temperatures may speed up insect metabolism, increasing the rate at which hibernating insects use up their energy reserves. The project will assess the role of overwintering temperatures on various ecological and economically important insect species.
Primary supervisor: Dr Jon Finch, Dr Lynne Forster
Industry partner involvement: NA
Student stipend offered: NA
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: Vineyard practices that increase efficiency and reduce labour, such as mechanical harvesting, can improve vineyard profitability and support industry growth. Some Tasmanian winegrape growers that use mechanical harvesting have reported no negative impacts on resultant berry and wine quality, yet anecdotally there is a belief that machine-harvesting produces inferior wines, meaning that many growers still practice hand-harvesting.
Primary supervisor: Dr Harriet Walker
Industry partner involvement: Wine Tasmania
Student stipend offered: No, but some operating funds may be available
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: In Tasmania, green pea crops are an important component of both intensive vegetable production systems and mixed farming rotations. To maintain the viability of this crop for processor Simplot, production efficiency must be continually improved including both increasing crop yield (t/ha) and optimising management strategies. This project will investigate the influence of crop establishment and management strategies on pea yield and plant architecture. Specifically, initial trials will focus on optimising spatial arrangement and plant density, and the influence of irrigation stress on optimal plant architecture and resource partitioning. Field trials and data collection will be conducted over summer 2018/19, with research conducted in the NW and Northern Tas, but student will be based in Hobart
Primary Supervisor: Alistair Gracie, Mark Boersma
Industry Partner Involvement: Simplot
Student Stipend Offered: No, but some financial support may be available.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Plant morphology is currently used to inform poppy crop management practices, in particular the timing of pesticide and herbicide applications. This project will link plant morphology and visual characteristics used to determine growth stages with apical meristem development from floral initiation through phases of capsule development (including cell division and expansion) to capsule maturity. Additionally, herbicide treatments applied at various growth stages will be used to investigate the effect of stress during growth on capsule development and final alkaloid concentrations. Changes in the morphology of the meristem indicating floral development will be observed using environmental scanning electron microscope, and phases of capsule cell division and expansion will be observed using sectioning/microscope techniques. Research and student to be based in Hobart (Glasshouse trials).
Primary Supervisor: Alistair Gracie, Mark Boersma, Dr Les Baxter (Tasmanian Alkaloids)
Industry Partner Involvement: Tasmanian Alkaloids
Student Stipend Offered: No, but some financial support may be available.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: This project will contribute to a TIA national apple r&d program project that is investigating orchard floor cover crops and composting for soil health. Increased soil carbon improves soil water infiltration and retention which may improve tree and fruit water relations. This honours project aims to explore carbon isotope ratio as an indicator of integrated, seasonal tree and fruit water relations.
Primary Supervisor: Dugald Close
Industry Partner Involvement: Willie Smiths and potential for additional partners
Student Stipend Offered: No stipend but operating funding of at least $2,000 is available
Location: Hobart
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: The Tasmanian apple industry suffers significant loss of fruit due to bird damage. This project will work alongside industry to investigate non-lethal bird deterrent programs to mitigate fruit loss from bird damage. Trial approaches may include intermittent fireworks, drone and laser beam technology
Primary Supervisor: Nigel Swarts, Darren Turner (Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences), Aaron Bowden (Apple Grower, Huonville)
Industry Partner Involvement: Fruit Growers Tasmania
Student Stipend Offered: No stipend but operating funding (in kind) for bird deterrents will be discussed with industry
Location: Hobart
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Pasture productivity is a critical component of agricultural production, with environmental stressors impacting the growth and nutritional value of the crop. This project aims to test and validate the use of a low-cost hand-held chlorophyll fluorescence meter for predicting pasture health, productivity, and nutritional value through rapid, non-destructive sampling. Controlled environment trials will be conducted to validate leaf chlorophyll fluorescence measurements of plant productivity and nitrogen content under various abiotic and biotic stress conditions in three pasture species.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Tory Clarke
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Wine grapes are susceptible to disease including from the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea which causes the grapevine diseases botrytis bunch rot (BBR). This project will investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of novel RNAi based fungicides (BioClay™) for suppression of BBR in wine grapes. Understanding the uptake and translocation of RNAi product within the plant tissue after application in wine grapevines (Vitis vinifera) is a key aim of this project, which will include molecular work and controlled environment trials on grapevines.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Tory Clarke
Industry Partner Involvement: CSIRO - Rebecca Haling
Student Stipend Offered: No, but opportunity to apply to AW Howard Trust
Location: Burnie
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: In pea, most of the yield comes from the first node. In this project, we will determine if increased branching at the first node improves yield.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Nathan Tivendale
Industry Partner Involvement: Simplot
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Launceston
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: This project will investigate the use of carbon dots (CDs), a class of carbon-based nanoparticles, to improve photosynthesis and crop productivity in pyrethrum plants. Specifically, it will explore the use of glucose-functionalised CDs as reported by Swift et al (2021). Glucose-functionalised CDs is sustainable and potentially cost effective and the discovery of their benefits represents a significant advancement in the use of nano technologies. It will also be supported by Botanical Resources Australia.
Swift, TA et al (2024) Photosynthesis and crop productivity are enhanced by glucosefunctionalised carbon dots. New Phytologist229: 783–790
Primary Supervisor: Alistair Gracie
Industry Partner Involvement: Botanical Resources Australia
Student stipend offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project description: Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) is an important horticultural crop worldwide and a model system for understanding non-climactic fruit ripening. Strawberry varieties grown in Tasmania have been bred to thrive in cool climates. However, even Tasmania experiences hot summers and these higher temperatures can have detrimental effects on fruit ripening and resulting fruit quality. The factors controlling the impact of high temperatures on strawberry fruit ripening are not well understood, so adaptive management practices have not yet been developed.
In this study we will investigate how ripening under heat stress is different to ripening under normal conditions by investigating phytohormonal changes that happen during ripening under heat stress. Local heat susceptible and tolerant varieties of Tasmania, along with newly bred lines from the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program (ASBP) will be used for this project.
Primary supervisor: Dr Nathan Tivendale
Industry partner involvement: Berried in Tas, Pinata Farms
Student stipend offered: NA
Project Description: Wild ferments are thought to impart unique aroma and flavours. This study will investigate the link between microbes in wild ferments and the aroma and taste profiles of fermented products.
Primary Supervisor: Samantha Sawyer
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: Lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria (a dominant bacterial group on vacuum-packed lamb) has been known to affect the quality and shelf-life of vacuum-packed (VP) lamb. However, its true extent and how this could be manipulated to extend the shelf-life in practice are still unclear. This study will examine the effects of lactic acid at various concentrations on VP lamb shelf-life.
Primary Supervisor: Jay Kocharunchitt
Industry Partner Involvement: Meat and Livestock Australia
Student Stipend Offered: $2,500 one-off
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: The goal is to isolate and characterise bacteria able to degrade lignin and plant hemicellulose in soils that possess demonstrably high aggregate stability and link capabilities to soil functionality. Part of the work will involve assessment of genome data and metagenome data obtained using Nanopore-based sequencing.
Primary Supervisor: John Bowman
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: The goal is to determine if limiting factors for lignin-based plant stimulation can be achieved with minimal use of organic fertiliser products (i.e. urate-rich guano products derived from seabirds and/or bats). Impacts on soil properties and microbiology would be investigated.
Primary Supervisor: John Bowman
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: There is an interest to measure the contributions of keystone taxa in microbiomes to enable more in-depth functional studies and to better assess treatment-based experiments. To do this requires an accurate estimate of cell populations. The goal is to develop a digital PCR assay to measure specific bacterial and archaeal taxa in gut microbiome sample DNA extracts. For the project this will include DNA extracts obtained from gut and digesta samples taken from cows (target - Methanobrevibacter) and Atlantic salmon (target - Aliivibrio). To do this will involve assaying selected single copy genes as well as 16S rRNA genes.
Primary Supervisor: Professor John Bowman
Industry Partner Involvement: No. This project will be conducted either in the microbiology lab in Sandy Bay (digital PCR instrument is based in CSL nearby) or will be conducted from a lab in Launceston (from 2024)
Student Stipend Offered: No.
Location: Hobart or Launceston.
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: The aim of this project is to analyse data on domestic refrigerator temperatures and how these affect the microbiological safety and quality of foods using available predictive tools. To achieve this aim, the project will involve a small survey of the temperature of domestic refrigerators using a temperature logger. The microbiological safety and quality of foods will then be assessed through the use of available predictive models (either online and/or from previously published work) for selected foods based on the time-temperature data collected. The results of this project and the interpretation based on them can be used to increase consumer's awareness in relation to refrigeration practices, promoting food safety and wastage.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Jay Kocharunchitt
Industry Partner Involvement: Possibly with Tasmanian Department of Health.
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Hobart or Launceston
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: Spongospora sp. is an important pathogen of potato found in most Tasmanian soils. This project will examine in detail novel management tools based on premature germination of the pathogen resting spores resulting in soil inoculum exhaustion and removal.
Primary Supervisor: Calum Wilson, Robert Tegg
Industry Partner Involvement: Simplot
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Fusarium spp. have been isolated from pyrethrum flowers. However, it is unknown if they are pathogenic. This project would assess this through greenhouse and growth cabinet inoculation studies.
Primary Supervisor: Jason Scott
Industry Partner Involvement: Botanical Resources Australia
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Powdery scab is the biggest threat to productivity and profitability of the Australian potato industry. The pathogen persists in soil as dormant resting spores germinating in presence of potato. We have discovered specific plant root exudate compounds that attract released zoospores to roots by chemotaxis (chemical attraction). We propose a novel disease management approach that can disrupt zoospore chemotaxis by supplying alternate (confounding) chemical signals in the soil. This project will assess proof of concept for the approach and will utilise new microdialysis technologies to determine the efficacy of the approach in situ in soil systems.
Primary Supervisor: Calum Wilson and Bianca Das, Robert Tegg (co-supervisor)
Industry Partner Involvement: Links with current Simplot Australia and Potatoes NZ supported work
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Hobart or Launceston
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Wine grapes are susceptible to disease including from the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea which causes the grapevine diseases botrytis bunch rot (BBR). This project will investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of novel RNAi based fungicides (BioClay™) for suppression of BBR in wine grapes. Understanding the uptake and translocation of RNAi product within the plant tissue after application in wine grapevines (Vitis vinifera) is a key aim of this project, which will include molecular work and controlled environment trials on grapevines.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Tory Clarke
Industry Partner Involvement: CSIRO - Rebecca Haling
Student Stipend Offered: No, but opportunity to apply to AW Howard Trust
Location: Burnie
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Pasture productivity is a critical component of agricultural production, with environmental stressors impacting the growth and nutritional value of the crop. This project aims to test and validate the use of a low-cost hand-held chlorophyll fluorescence meter for predicting pasture health, productivity, and nutritional value through rapid, non-destructive sampling. Controlled environment trials will be conducted to validate leaf chlorophyll fluorescence measurements of plant productivity and nitrogen content under various abiotic and biotic stress conditions in three pasture species.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Tory Clarke
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Burnie
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Powdery scab is the biggest threat to productivity and profitability of the Australian potato industry. The pathogen persists in soil as dormant resting spores germinating in presence of potato. We have discovered specific plant root exudate compounds that attract released zoospores to roots by chemotaxis (chemical attraction). We propose a novel disease management approach that can disrupt zoospore chemotaxis by supplying alternate (confounding) chemical signals in the soil. This project will assess proof of concept for the approach and will utilise new microdialysis technologies to determine the efficacy of the approach in situ in soil systems.
Primary Supervisor: Calum Wilson and Bianca Das, Robert Tegg (co-supervisor)
Industry Partner Involvement: Links with current Simplot Australia and Potatoes NZ supported work
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Hobart or Launceston
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Investigating the effect of pivot length on irrigation application efficiency, wetting patterns, irrigation uniformity, runoff etc.
Primary Supervisor: Marcus Hardie, Sue Hinton
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: The soil bacteria:fungi ratio is understood to be a good indication of what plant species will grow well. This study will examine the impact of farm inputs (e.g. fertiliser, pesticides, tillage etc.) on soil bacteria:fungi ratios.
Primary Supervisor: John McPhee
Industry Partner Involvement: Soil First Tasmania
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: The field component of the project will probably take place in the eucalypt plantations owned by Forico Ltd on the Surrey Hills estate in northwest Tasmania. A robust statistical design is essential: soil carbon under plantation trees (eucalypts) and under native forest will be measured at multiple sites. Samples will be prepared for analysis at UTAS. Analysis will be done either at UTAS or in a commercial laboratory. Depending on time available, a parallel project may be undertaken in the pine plantations of northeast Tasmania. Alternatively the project may be extended by looking at soil organic matter quality using techniques such as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy, depending on the preference of the researcher. The FPA will provide in-kind support such as vehicles and assistance in the field. The FPA will also finance commercial laboratory costs and overnight travel expenses (accommodation and meals). The outputs expected from the student are: (1) an Honours Thesis; (2) a scientific paper, which is likely to be produced as a joint authorship publication with supervisors and any other researchers involved.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Richard Doyle - 0419 992 264, Dr Peter McIntosh (Co-Supervisor) - 0409 538 168
Industry Partner Involvement: Forest Practices Authority, Hobart
Student Stipend Offered: No
Location: Research will be conducted in plantations of NW and NE Tasmania, but student will be based in Hobart.
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: Waste streams are being increasingly explored for alternative uses to improve sustainability and promote a circular economy. This project explores using harvest waste from the invasive long-spined sea urchin as an agricultural product.
Primary Supervisor: Harriet Walker
Industry Partner Involvement: TBA (agricultural partner), IMAS and True South Seafoods
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Agriculture with Honours (S4X) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours (S4A).
Project Description: The goal is to determine if limiting factors for lignin-based plant stimulation can be achieved with minimal use of organic fertiliser products (i.e. urate-rich guano products derived from seabirds and/or bats). Impacts on soil properties and microbiology would be investigated.
Primary Supervisor: John Bowman
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).
Project Description: The goal is to isolate and characterise bacteria able to degrade lignin and plant hemicellulose in soils that possess demonstrably high aggregate stability and link capabilities to soil functionality. Part of the work will involve assessment of genome data and metagenome data obtained using Nanopore-based sequencing.
Primary Supervisor: John Bowman
Industry Partner Involvement: No
Student Stipend Offered: No
This project is available in Bachelor of Science with Honours (S4E).