Judith Rathjen

Research Interests

Agriculture Microbiology Soil Biology

Dr Judith Rathjen

Grant-Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

College of Science

I have been working as a research in rhizobiology since 2018 in Matt Denton's group. I have a strong interest in compatibility of commonly used seed pesticides, fertilisers and trace elements with rhizobia, using microbiological and plant-based techniques. Other interests include the global diversity of rhizobia in countries without a history of inoculation and the N fixation efficiency of diverse strains.

Date Position Institution name
2013 - ongoing Research Officer University of Adelaide

Date Institution name Country Title
University of Adelaide Australia BAgSCI

Date Title Institution Country
Role of the seed coat in the dormancy of wheat grains University of Adelaide Australia

Year Citation
2025 Riley, I. T., Ryder, M. H., Rathjen, J. R., Lai, T. V., & Denton, M. D. (2025). In vitro Assessment Indicates that Fertilizers Commonly Used in Legume Production Differentially Inhibit Commercial Rhizobial Strains. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 56(5), 687-700.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Lai, T. V., Ryder, M. H., Rathjen, J. R., Riley, I. T., & Denton, M. D. (2025). Seed-applied micronutrient toxicity to rhizobia and impaired legume nodulation.. J Appl Microbiol, 136(4), 9 pages.
DOI
2025 Rathjen, J. R., Ryder, M. H., Lai, T. V., Riley, I. T., Brand, J., & Denton, M. D. (2025). The impact of fungicides with contrasting toxicities to rhizobia on the growth and nodulation of pulses in southern Australia. Crop and Pasture Science, 76(9), 16 pages.
DOI
2023 Rathjen, J. R., Zaw, M., Ryder, M. H., Zhou, Y., Lai, T. V., & Denton, M. D. (2023). Native soil origin influences the symbiotic N fixation effectiveness of chickpea mesorhizobia grown in Australian soils. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 60(1), 137-151.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2022 Zaw, M., Rathjen, J. R., Zhou, Y., Ryder, M. H., & Denton, M. D. (2022). Rhizobial diversity is associated with inoculation history at a two-continent scale.. FEMS microbiology ecology, 98(5), 1-14.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC2
2021 Lai, T. V., Ryder, M. H., Rathjen, J. R., Bolan, N. S., Croxford, A. E., & Denton, M. D. (2021). Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium increased with rising temperature. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 57(3), 363-372.
DOI Scopus32 WoS26
2021 Zaw, M., Rathjen, J. R., Zhou, Y., Ryder, M. H., & Denton, M. D. (2021). Symbiotic effectiveness, ecological adaptation and phylogenetic diversity of chickpea rhizobia isolated from a large-scale Australian soil collection. Plant and Soil, 469(1-2), 49-71.
DOI Scopus12 WoS12
2020 Rathjen, J. R., Ryder, M. H., Riley, I. T., Lai, T. V., & Denton, M. D. (2020). Impact of seed-applied pesticides on rhizobial survival and legume nodulation.. J Appl Microbiol, 129(2), 389-399.
DOI Scopus19 WoS14 Europe PMC7
2018 Torabian, S., Farhangi-Abriz, S., & Rathjen, J. (2018). Biochar and lignite affect H⁺ -ATPase and H⁺ -PPase activities in root tonoplast and nutrient contents of mung bean under salt stress. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 129, 141-149.
DOI Scopus65 WoS58 Europe PMC20
2017 Li, J., Harata-Lee, Y., Denton, M., Feng, Q., Rathjen, J., Qu, Z., & Adelson, D. (2017). Long read reference genome-free reconstruction of a full-length transcriptome from Astragalus membranaceus reveals transcript variants involved in bioactive compound biosynthesis. Cell Discovery, 3(1), 17031-1-17031-13.
DOI Scopus95 WoS91 Europe PMC75
2009 Mares, D., Rathjen, J., Mrva, K., & Cheong, J. (2009). Genetic and environmental control of dormancy in white-grained wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Euphytica, 168(3), 311-318.
DOI Scopus30 WoS26
2009 Rathjen, J., Strounina, E., & Mares, D. (2009). Water movement into dormant and non-dormant wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains. Journal of Experimental Botany, 60(6), 1619-1631.
DOI Scopus87 WoS68 Europe PMC31

Year Citation
2022 Rathjen, J., Zaw, M., Zhou, Y., Ryder, M., & Denton, M. (2022). Diversity and field symbiotic performance of Mesorhizobium strains collected across chickpea cropping areas of Australia and Myanmar. Poster session presented at the meeting of 18th Australian Nitrogen Fixation Conference 2022. Fremantle.
2020 Rathjen, J., Ryder, M., Lai, T., Riley, I., & Denton, M. (2020). Improving nodulation with seed-applied fungicides. Poster session presented at the meeting of SUNFix Symposium.
2017 Rathjen, J., Ryder, M., Riley, I., & Denton, M. (2017). Effect of seed-applied pesticides on the survival of Rhizobium leguminosarum and Mesorhizobium ciceri on legume seeds. Poster session presented at the meeting of SUNFix Symposium.

Year Citation
2022 Farquharson, E., Rathjen, J., Ballard, R., Barnett, S., Brand, J., Roberts, P., . . . Mckay, A. (2022). An overview of research advances to optimise inoculation, nodulation and nitrogen fixation of pulse crops in southern Australia.

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2017 - 2023 External Supervisor Symbiotic effectiveness, phylogenetic diversity and ecological adaptation of chickpea rhizobia isolated from Australian and Myanmar soils Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Myint Zaw

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2022 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Molecular analysis of genes involved in effectiveness of symbiosis between mesorhizobium and chickpea University of Adelaide - Master - Divyia Dharshini Chinnatamby

Date Role Membership Country
2001 - ongoing Member Crop Science Society of South Australia Australia

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