PhD (2014)
Environmental drivers of bulb production in brassicas (PDF 5.8 MB)
Research Overview
Mariana explored the environmental triggers of the bulb production in forage brassicas. The project quantified cardinal temperatures for germination of nine forage brassica cultivars. Relationships between canopy light interception, bulb initiation and leaf number were described. Dry matter yields were found to decrease when sowing was delayed. This was related to a reduction in the quantity of light intercepted which was a result of variation in the phyllochron across sowing dates. This project was supervised by Prof. Derrick Moot and Dr Alistair Black.
Mariana completed postdoctoral studies working with APSIM at both CSIRO, Toowoomba and later with AgResearch. She returned to Lincoln University in 2020 and is now a Lecturer in Crop Physiology/Modelling with the Agriculture & Life Sciences Faculty.