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Dr Millicent Smith

Lecturer Crop Physiology
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences
Affiliate Lecturer
Centre for Crop Science
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Researcher biography

Millicent is a plant physiologist with expertise in legume crops. Typically working at the whole plant or crop level, her research is focused on understanding the above- and below-ground mechanisms that underpin adaptation to abiotic stress and the impacts of changing resource availability on yield and seed nutrient content. Millicent has extensive experience developing and applying novel chemical, isotopic and physiological phenotyping techniques and technologies across scales from lab to field.

Featured projects Duration
Evaluating salinity tolerance in diverse taro wild relative to enhance food security in the Pacific Islands
2021–2022
Hotter, drier, CRISPR: the latest edit on pulse crops
2001–2021
Can mungbean beat the heat?
Towards high yielding mungbean varieties with synchronous flowering
 2021–2022
Can mungbean beat the heat?
 2021–2022

Publications

Book Chapters (2)
Journal Articles (9)
Conference Paper (1)
Thesis (1)

Book Chapters

Smith, Millicent R. and Rao, Idupulapati M. (2021). Common bean. Crop physiology case histories for major crops. (pp. 384-406) London, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-819194-1.00012-8
Dumschott, Kathryn, Merchant, Andrew and Smith, Millicent (2018). Metabolic adaptation and allocation of metabolites to phloem transport and regulation under stress. Metabolic adaptations in plants during abiotic stress. (pp. 21-26) edited by Akula Ramakrishna and Sarvajeet Singh Gill. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/b22206-2

Journal Articles

Smith, Millicent R., Dinglasan, Eric, Veneklaas, Erik, Polania, Jose, Rao, Idupulapati M., Beebe, Stephen E. and Merchant, Andrew (2022). Effect of Drought and Low P on Yield and Nutritional Content in Common Bean. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.814325
Merchant, Andrew, Smith, Millicent and Windt, Carel (2022). In situ pod growth rate reveals contrasting diurnal sensitivity to water deficit in Phaseolus vulgaris. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73 (11), 3774-3786. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erac097
Smith, Millicent R., Reis Hodecker, Barbara Elias, Fuentes, David and Merchant, Andrew (2022). Investigating nutrient supply effects on plant growth and seed nutrient content in common bean. Plants, 11 (6) 737, 737. doi: 10.3390/plants11060737
Bhatta, Madhav, Sandro, Pablo, Smith, Millicent R., Delaney, Oscar, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Gutierrez, Lucia and Hickey, Lee T. (2021). Need for speed: manipulating plant growth to accelerate breeding cycles. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 60 101986, 101986. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2020.101986
Smith, Millicent R., Fuentes, David and Merchant, Andrew (2019). Chemical and isotopic markers detect water deficit and its influence on nutrient allocation in Phaseolus vulgaris. Physiologia Plantarum, 167 (3), 391-403. doi: 10.1111/ppl.12899
Smith, Millicent R., Veneklaas, Erik, Polania, Jose, Rao, Idupulapati M., Beebe, Stephen E. and Merchant, Andrew (2019). Field drought conditions impact yield but not nutritional quality of the seed in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). PLoS ONE, 14 (6). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217099
Smith, Millicent R., Rao, Idupulapati M. and Merchant, Andrew (2018). Source-Sink Relationships in Crop Plants and Their Influence on Yield Development and Nutritional Quality. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01889
Smith, Millicent R. and Merchant, A. (2018). Limitations to using phloem sap to assess tree water and nutrient status. Tree Physiology, 39 (2), 332-339. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpy132
Smith, Millicent, Wild, Birgit, Richter, Andreas, Simonin, Kevin and Merchant, Andrew (2016). Carbon Isotope Composition of Carbohydrates and Polyols in Leaf and Phloem Sap of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Influences Predictions of Plant Water Use Efficiency. Plant and Cell Physiology, 57 (8), 1756-1766. doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcw099

Conference Paper

Williams, Alwyn, Wenham, Kylie, Smith, Millicent, Rachaputi, R. C. N. and Collins, Marisa (2022). Mungbean responses to elevated day- and night-time temperatures. System Solutions for Complex Problems, Toowoomba, QLD Australia, 18-22 September 2022. Toowoomba, QLD Australia: Australian Society of Agronomy.

Thesis

Smith, Millicent (2018). Novel techniques to improve yield quantity and quality in common bean. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Agriculture and the Environment, The University of Sydney.

Areas of research

Plant and soil sciences