Dr Jiayin Pang obtained her PhD from the University of Tasmania and is a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia, specialising in crop physiology and plant nutrition. Her research focuses on enhancing phosphorus and nitrogen use efficiency in plants and understanding plant responses to abiotic stresses such as drought, soil acidity, waterlogging and salinity across cereal, pasture legume and grain legume species. She currently co-leads an Australian Research Council Linkage project (LP200100341): Tightening the phosphorus cycle for grain legumes. Jiayin collaborates extensively with academic and industry partners in Australia and internationally. She has published 109 ISI-listed journal articles and three book chapters, with 4,116 citations and an h-index of 38 (Scopus). Jiayin has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences. She serves as Section Editor for Plant and Soil, and Plant Growth Regulation. Jiayin is regularly invited to review manuscripts for high-impact journals, PhD theses, and competitive grant applications. Over the past five years, Jiayin has contributed to undergraduate teaching across three units at UWA. She has successfully supervised numerous PhD, MSc and Honours students, and has also hosted >30 international visiting students and research scientists from diverse backgrounds. Jiayin is currently co-supervising nine PhD students.

She investigates belowground interactions at the plant-soil-microbe interface to enhance crop resilience and nutrient use efficiency under challenging environmental conditions. Her research has been instrumental in unveiling the intricate coordination of belowground traits and its implications on phosphorus-acquisition strategies across various crop species including wheat, barley, perennial pasture legumes, and grain legumes such as chickpea, soybean, and peanut. In addition, she has identified key genetic markers for chickpea drought tolerance. By integrating GWAS results into genomic selection models, she has notably enhanced the prediction accuracy of yield traits, thus aiding in the development of drought-tolerant crops. 

Dr Pang has secured $1.88M through three Category 1 grants.

Tightening the phosphorus cycle for grain legumes (ARC Linkage LP200100341)

Using unique core collections of chickpea, soybean and peanut with diverse genetic backgrounds, this project aims to unravel the mechanisms underlying high phosphorus-use efficiency (PUE) at morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular levels in three major legume crops. Reduced levels of phosphorus and phytate in seeds will improve seed quality for humans and livestock and dramatically reduce phosphorus-fertiliser inputs. The identification of traits and genes associated with high PUE will allow transfer of key traits into commercial
cultivars using molecular breeding approaches. Cultivars with improved PUE will enable reduced phosphate fertiliser input and loss of phosphate in runoff from agricultural systems.

acidity

barley

drought stress

grain legumes

hydraulic redistribution

mixed cropping

perennial legumes

phosphorus-use efficiency

plant-soil-microbe interactions

plant nutrition

rhizosheath formation

wheat

salinity

waterlogging

English
Mandarin