Sachin Gorakshnath Chavan
Sachin was part of Program 4: Linking leaf function and the field performance of crops, led by Oula Ghannoum at the HIE, UWS
Sachin’s project aimed to identify plant and photosynthetic traits governing wheat water and nutrient use efficiency under elevated CO2, heat stress and drought. Future high CO2 world with increased heat and drought events threatens crop growth and production. Food security for the growing human population requires improved understanding of crop responses to extreme climate conditions.
His main focus was to analyse the effects of elevated CO2 in combination with heat or water stresses on the photosynthesis and growth of field-grown (AGFACE, Horsham) and glasshouse-grown wheat lines, Scout and Yitpi. The physiological data will be used to model wheat productivity at elevated CO2 and interacting heat and water stress.
Outcomes of his research will fill a critical gap considering that currently used crop models lack a mechanistic approach based on physiology and stress effects. Project outcomes will help inform plant breeding and agronomic management strategies.
Sachin’s key areas of expertise included gas exchange measurement techniques (LICOR and TDL), computational biology and R for data handling, Gene cloning, PCR, PAGE, LCMS, and nucleic acid and protein extraction.
He holds a MSc (Agricultural Biotechnology from the Marathwada Agriculture University, Parbhani, Maharashtra, India (2010).
He has been the recipient of an Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Postgraduate Research Scholarship, University of Western Sydney (2014) and an INSPIRE Fellowship awarded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.
Sachin was part of the Centre from 2014 to 2018