Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

Dr Samir Alahmad

Research Fellow
Centre for Crop Science
View researcher profile

Dr Samir Alahmad is an early career plant breeder and geneticist. His main interest is dissecting the genetics of complex traits that contribute to enhanced yield under drought and disease stresses. His research is focused on better understanding the genetics of drought adaptive traits such as root system architecture and canopy development. He is currently working on two GRDC funded projects that aim to develop elite bread and durum wheat varieties with optimal root system architecture for yield improvement.

Researcher biography

Dr Samir Alahmad is an early career plant breeder, geneticist and plant physiologist within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland. He graduated with a PhD degree in 2019 from the University of Queensland. His main focus is dissecting the genetics of complex traits that contribute to enhanced yield. In particular, his research is focused on better understanding the genetics of drought adaptive traits such as root system architecture and canopy development. He worked on two GRDC-funded projects that aimed to develop elite durum and bread wheat varieties with optimal root system architecture for improved yield. Dr Alahmad also focuses on integrating breeding technologies and high throughput UAV remote sensing technologies to better understand crop response to drought stress. His primary focus is to understand how spectral reflectance indices can be used to speed up the development of new resilient varieties with enhanced genetic gain. Dr Samir Alahmad's interests are quantitative genetics, population genetics, genomic selection, GWAS, and UAV phenotyping.

Publications

Book Chapter (1)
Journal Articles (13)
Working Paper (1)
Thesis (1)
Department Technical Report (1)
Data Collections (5)
Seminar Papers (2)

Book Chapter

Alahmad, Samir, Rambla, Charlotte, Voss-Fels, Kai P. and Hickey, Lee T. (2022). Accelerating breeding cycles. Wheat improvement. (pp. 557-571) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-90673-3_30

Journal Articles

van der Bom, Frederik J. T., Williams, Alwyn, Raymond, Nelly S., Alahmad, Samir, Hickey, Lee T., Singh, Vijaya and Bell, Michael J. (2023). Root angle, phosphorus, and water: Interactions and effects on durum wheat genotype performance in drought-prone environments. Plant and Soil. doi: 10.1007/s11104-023-05966-z
Alahmad, Samir, Kang, Yichen, Dinglasan, Eric, Jambuthenne, Dilani, Robinson, Hannah, Tao, Yongfu, Able, Jason A., Christopher, Jack, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Bassi, Filippo M. and Hickey, Lee T. (2022). A multi-reference parent nested-association mapping population to dissect the genetics of quantitative traits in durum wheat. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 70 (5), 1471-1485. doi: 10.1007/s10722-022-01515-2
Cha, Jin-Kyung, O’Connor, Kathryn, Alahmad, Samir, Lee, Jong-Hee, Dinglasan, Eric, Park, Hyeonjin, Lee, So-Myeong, Hirsz, Dominique, Kwon, Soon-Wook, Kwon, Youngho, Kim, Kyeong-Min, Ko, Jong-Min, Hickey, Lee T., Shin, Dongjin and Dixon, Laura E. (2022). Speed vernalization to accelerate generation advance in winter cereal crops. Molecular Plant, 15 (8), 1300-1309. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2022.06.012
Jambuthenne, Dilani T., Riaz, Adnan, Athiyannan, Naveenkumar, Alahmad, Samir, Ng, Wei Ling, Ziems, Laura, Afanasenko, Olga, Periyannan, Sambasivam K., Aitken, Elizabeth, Platz, Greg, Godwin, Ian, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Dinglasan, Eric and Hickey, Lee T. (2022). Mining the Vavilov wheat diversity panel for new sources of adult plant resistance to stripe rust. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 135 (4), 1355-1373. doi: 10.1007/s00122-022-04037-8
Rambla, Charlotte, Van Der Meer, Sarah, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Makhoul, Manar, Obermeier, Christian, Snowdon, Rod, Ober, Eric S., Watt, Michelle, Alahmad, Samir and Hickey, Lee T. (2022). A toolkit to rapidly modify root systems through single plant selection. Plant Methods, 18 (1) 2, 2. doi: 10.1186/s13007-021-00834-2
Vukasovic, Stjepan, Alahmad, Samir, Christopher, Jack, Snowdon, Rod J., Stahl, Andreas and Hickey, Lee T. (2022). Dissecting the genetics of early vigour to design drought-adapted wheat. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12 754439, 754439. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.754439
Ober, Eric S., Alahmad, Samir, Cockram, James, Forestan, Cristian, Hickey, Lee T., Kant, Josefine, Maccaferri, Marco, Marr, Emily, Milner, Matthew, Pinto, Francisco, Rambla, Charlotte, Reynolds, Matthew, Salvi, Silvio, Sciara, Giuseppe, Snowdon, Rod J., Thomelin, Pauline, Tuberosa, Roberto, Uauy, Cristobal, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Wallington, Emma and Watt, Michelle (2021). Wheat root systems as a breeding target for climate resilience. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 134 (6), 1645-1662. doi: 10.1007/s00122-021-03819-w
Alahmad, Samir, Kang, Yichen, Dinglasan, Eric, Mazzucotelli, Elisabetta, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Able, Jason A., Christopher, Jack, Bassi, Filippo M. and Hickey, Lee T. (2020). Adaptive traits to improve Durum wheat yield in drought and crown rot environments. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21 (15) 5260, 1-17. doi: 10.3390/ijms21155260
Alahmad, Samir, El Hassouni, Khaoula, Bassi, Filippo M., Dinglasan, Eric, Youssef, Chvan, Quarry, Georgia, Aksoy, Alpaslan, Mazzucotelli, Elisabetta, Juhasz, Angela, Able, Jason A., Christopher, Jack, Voss-Fels, Kai P. and Hickey, Lee T. (2019). A major root architecture QTL responding to water limitation in Durum Wheat. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10 436, 436. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00436
El Hassouni, K., Alahmad, S., Belkadi, B., Filali-Maltouf, A., Hickey, L. T. and Bassi, F. M. (2018). Root system architecture and its association with yield under different water regimes in Durum wheat. Crop Science, 58 (6), 2331-2346. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2018.01.0076
Alahmad, Samir, Dinglasan, Eric, Leung, Kung Ming, Riaz, Adnan, Derbal, Nora, Voss-Fels, Kai P., Able, Jason A., Bassi, Filippo M., Christopher, Jack and Hickey, Lee T. (2018). Speed breeding for multiple quantitative traits in durum wheat. Plant Methods, 14 (1) 36, 36. doi: 10.1186/s13007-018-0302-y
Alahmad, S., Simpfendorfer, S., Bentley, A. R. and Hickey, L. T. (2018). Crown rot of wheat in Australia: Fusarium pseudograminearum taxonomy, population biology and disease management. Australasian Plant Pathology, 47 (3), 285-299. doi: 10.1007/s13313-018-0554-z
Shehab, Adwan H., Al-Ahmad, Samir A. and Samara, Fauzy F. (2011). Morphology and distribution of the Indian Gerbil, Tatera indica (Hardwicke, 1807), in Syria : (Rodentia: Gerbillinae). Zoology in the Middle East, 52 (1), 3-10. doi: 10.1080/09397140.2011.10638473

Working Paper

Hickey, Lee , Wasson, Anton , Kang, Yichen and Alahmad, Samir (2022). Can we improve the roots of durum wheat to maximise yield? . Center for Crop Science - Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Thesis

Alahmad, Samir (2019). Accelerating the development of durum wheat adapted to drought and crown rot conditions. PhD Thesis, Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.553

Department Technical Report

Alahmad, Samir , Hickey, Lee , Simpfendorfer, Steven and Bentley, Alison (2018). Taking stock of what we know about Crown rot. Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland.

Data Collections

Hickey, Lee, Kang, Yichen and Alahmad, Samir (2023). Field-based root phenotype data for durum wheat intro-selection lines - raw and pre-processed data. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/92c3c86
Hickey, Lee and Alahmad, Samir (2023). Whole-genome marker profiles for bread wheat intro-selection lines. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/3c1bbae
Hickey, Lee and Alahmad, Samir (2023). UAV imagery for bread and durum wheat intro-selection lines selected for root traits. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/24ee7f8
Hickey, Lee, Kang, Yichen and Alahmad, Samir (2023). Field-based root phenotype data for bread wheat intro-selection lines - raw and pre-processed data. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/9c3b35d
Hickey, Lee, Kang, Yichen and Alahmad, Samir (2023). Whole-genome marker profiles for durum wheat intro-selection lines. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/8b3af41

Seminar Papers

Alahmad, Samir, Kang, Yichen, Rambla, Charlotte, Van Der Meer, Sarah, Smith, Millicent, Christopher, Jack, Chenu, Karine, Able, Jason A., Voss-Fels, Kai, Jordan, David R., Borrell, Andrew K., Smith, Daniel, Chapman, Scott, Watt, Michelle, Ober, Eric, Potgieter, Andries B., Wasson, Anton, Hickey, Lee T. and Robinson, Hannah (2022). Exploring root-shoot dynamics to enhance yield potential and stability of future wheat cultivars. Australian Breeding Assembly, August 2022, Narrabri, NSW, Australia. Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Bassi, Filippo, El Hassouni, Khaoula, Alahmad, Samir, Kabbaj, Hafssa, Zaim, Meryem, Azouz, Mounira, Azouz, Mounira, Sall, Amadou T., Kehel, Zakaria, Al-Abdallat, Ayed, Alary, Veronique, Niane, Abdoul Aziz, Belkadi, Bouchra, Filali-Maltouf, Abdelkarim, Hickey, Lee, Ortiz, Rodomiro, Baum, Michael and Amri, Ahmed (2019). The magic of crop wild relatives in durum wheat breeding. Durum Breeding Program, International Center for Agriculture in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).