Rate My Professor Jonathan Mclachlan

Dr. Jonathan McLachlan is a Senior Lecturer in Pasture Science and Grazing Management in the School of Environmental and Rural Science within the Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law at the University of New England. He earned a Bachelor of Rural Science with First Class Honours and a PhD in Pasture Production from the same institution. His doctoral thesis, titled 'Root Trait Importance for Phosphorus Acquisition Efficiency in Trifolium subterraneum,' examined root traits influencing phosphorus uptake in subterranean clover. Prior to his lecturing appointment, McLachlan served as a Research Fellow in Pasture Nutrition, leading the project 'Phosphorus Management and Requirements of Tropical Legume Pasture Swards.' His career progression includes roles from Fellow (2019-2021) to Lecturer (2021 onwards), culminating in his current senior lecturing position.

McLachlan's research centers on optimizing the feedbase of temperate and tropical grazing systems, particularly legume establishment, persistence, and performance in mixed swards. Key interests encompass pasture agronomy and nutrition, pasture legumes, sward dynamics, pasture weeds, plant-soil interactions, and root architecture and morphology. He addresses challenges like phosphorus deficiency in nutrient-poor soils through studies on root traits, alternative fertilizer strategies such as subsurface placement and banding, and critical phosphorus requirements for species including Desmanthus genotypes and tropical legumes. Notable publications include 'Root morphology and phosphorus requirements of 12 tropical pasture species grown in a controlled environment' (2025), 'Starter phosphorus reduces the critical external phosphorus requirements of two tropical pasture legumes' (2024), 'Preferential Phosphorus Placement Improves the Productivity and Competitiveness of Tropical Pasture Legumes' (2024), 'Differences in phosphorus acquisition and critical phosphorus requirements among nine Desmanthus spp. genotypes' (2021), and 'Intrinsic root morphology determines the phosphorus acquisition efficiency of five annual pasture legumes irrespective of mycorrhizal colonisation' (2020). McLachlan teaches undergraduate courses including AGSY101 Sustainable Agricultural Systems I, AGRO200 Agricultural Plants: Adaptation and Physiology, AGSY300 Grazing Systems, and AGSY410 Problem Solving in Farm Systems, promoting holistic insights into agricultural ecology, pasture adaptation, and systems thinking. Additionally, he serves as Director and Editor of Pastures and Grazing NSW.