Lecturer in Crop Science

Career Summary

I received my PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1997. From 1997 to 2001, I was a postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO Plant Industry in Perth researching the effect of physiological traits such as early vigour and semidwarfism on the growth, development and yield of wheat in the medium to low rainfall zones of southwest WA. I gained overseas research experience as a postdoctoral fellow at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines from 2001 to 2003, working on drought and genotype x environment interactions in rice. I returned to Western Australia in 2003 and until 2007 was a research fellow with UWA, working on hardpan penetration ability of wheat. In early 2007 I joined the teaching staff at the University of Tasmania as the lecturer in crop science. I contribute to the coordination of the Graduate Research Program in the School of Agricultural Science.

Research Interests

My research interests are the physiology and agronomy of cereal crops. Specific research interests include: yield potential and water-use efficiency of cereals in the high rainfall zone of southeast Australia; genotype x environment interactions for yield of wheat; agronomic benefits of biodegradable plastic films to cereal production; hardpan penetration ability of wheat in southwest WA.

Research Areas:

• Cropping and Grain Legumes  Read More

Teaching

My major areas of teaching is the field crops component of Crop and Pasture Production (KLA250/350/450) and Agronomy (KLA351/451). I contribute to first year teaching in Sustainable Resource Management (KLA115) and Introduction to Agriculture and Horticulture (KLA100) and to second year teaching in Crop and Plant Physiology (KLA214).

Units

• KLA115 - Sustainable Resource Management
  
• KLA214 - Crop and Plant Physiology
  
• KLA431 - Agronomy
  
• KLA450 - Crop and Pasture Production
  

Selected Publications:

• Botwright T, Rebetzke G, Condon A and Richards R , 2001, 'The effect of rht genotype and temperature on coleoptile growth and dry matter partitioning in young wheat seedlings', Australian Journal of Plant Physiology , 28, pgs. 417-423
• Botwright TL, Rebetzke GJ, Condon AG and Richards RA , 2002, 'Field evaluation of early vigour for genetic improvement of grain yield in wheat', Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 53, pgs. 1137-1145
• Botwright TL and Lafitte, HR , 2002, 'Identification of conditional rice mutants showing differential growth response in anaerobic and aerobic conditions', In: Plant Breeding for the 11th Millenium, J. A. McComb (ed), Proceedings 12th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference (Perth, 15-20 September, 2002), pgs. 489-493
• Botwright TL, Rebetzke GJ, Condon AG and Richards RA, 2005, 'Influence of the gibberellin-sensitive Rht8 semidwarf gene on leaf anatomy and seedling vigour in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)', Annals of Botany, 95, pgs. 631-639
• Botwright Acuna T and Wade L, 2005, 'Root penetration ability of wheat through thin wax layers under drought and well-watered conditions.', Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 56, pgs. 1235-1244
• Gooding S, Botwright Acuna T, Wade L and Fox P, 2006, 'Emergence, stand establishment and vigour of deep-sown Australian CIMMYT wheats. ', Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 46, pgs. 1167-1175
• Turner, NC, Botwright Acuna TL (Eds.), 2007, 'Proceedings of the 13th Australian Agronomy Conference:"Ground-breaking stuff". Special Issue for Field Crops Research'