Dr Millicent Smith
Lecturer Crop Physiology
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences
Affiliate Lecturer
Centre for Crop Science
Researcher biography
Millicent is a plant physiologist with expertise in grain 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.
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
Geetika, Geetika, Hammer, Graeme, Smith, Millicent, Singh, Vijaya, Collins, Marisa, Mellor, Vincent, Wenham, Kylie and Rachaputi, Rao C.N. (2022). Quantifying physiological determinants of potential yield in mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek). Field Crops Research, 287 108648, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2022.108648
Akinlade, Oluwaseun J., Voss-Fels, Kai, Costilla, Roy, Kholova, Jana, Choudhary, Sunita, Varshney, Rajeev K., Hickey, Lee T. and Smith, Millicent R. (2022). Designing chickpea for a hotter drier world. Euphytica, 218 (7) 100. doi: 10.1007/s10681-022-03048-2
Geetika, Geetika, Collins, Marisa, Singh, Vijaya, Hammer, Graeme, Mellor, Vincent, Smith, Millicent and Rachaputi, Rao C. N. (2022). Canopy and reproductive development in mungbean (Vigna radiata). Crop and Pasture Science, 73 (10), 1142-1155. doi: 10.1071/cp21209
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., 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
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 Papers
Suresh Krishnasamy, Smith, Millicent R., Narayan, Edward, Abdul Aziz, Ammar and Hoffman, Eleanor W. (2022). Developing virtual field trips for Agriculture. The Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Perth, WA Australia, 28-30 September 2022. Sydney, Australia: The University of Sydney.
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.