The Australian Plant Phenomics Facility’s (APPF) node based at the CSIRO in Canberra was thrilled to host His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka, and his delegation during their visit to Australia, 24 – 26 May.

This was the first time a Sri Lankan Head of State has made a state visit to Australia and marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“President Sirisena’s visit will be an opportunity to advance key areas of bilateral cooperation, including education, defense, science and technology, economic development, medical research and the fight against people smuggling,” Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement before their meeting.

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Dr Xavier Sirault (right) demonstrates the PlantScan 3D imaging platform to President Sirisena (left) and his delegation at the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility’s node based at the CSIRO in Canberra.

As part of the Canberra visit, the President, who also holds the Cabinet portfolio of Environment, visited the APPF to learn more about plant phenomics which is being used to help tackle the major global challenges of future food production, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation and climate change. The world class facility focuses on deep phenotyping (delving into metabolism and physiological processes within the plant) and reverse phenomics (dissection traits to discover their mechanistic basis).

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Dr Sirault discusses the benefits of the Phenomobile® Lite with President Sirisena

Dr Xavier Sirault, Director of the node, shared a number of the facility’s highlights including PlantScan (a 3D imaging platform), ArduCrop (a wireless infrared canopy temperature sensor network), HeliPod (airborne imaging), Phenomobile® Lite (an advanced mobile research platform used in non-destructive, high throughput plant phenotyping in the field) and growth chambers.

The President also visited the National Arboretum in Canberra, where he planted a sapling of Mahogany (Toona ciliata) and the ANU-CSIRO Centre for Genomics, Metabolomics and Bioinformatics.

“Sri Lanka can learn a lot from these centres about preserving environment, increasing forest density, and agriculture and food crop research,” said His Excellency Somasundaram Skandakumar, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka.

To find out more about Phenomobile® Lite or any other services offered by the APPF node at CSIRO Canberra, please contact Dr Xavier Sirault.

Find out more about the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility.