Dr. Rovira has made major contributions to Australian and international agriculture with over 120 scientific papers, reviews, chapters and one book on the interactions between plant roots and micro-organisms. His publication "Plant Root Exudates" in Botanical Review has received an international Citation Classic award. This research is fundamental to understanding root diseases which cause severe losses to crops, pastures and forests.
Since 1976, Dr. Rovira has led a team on management strategies to control root diseases of wheat and in 1984 he was nominated for the Sir Ian McLennan Achievement for Industry Award for the SIRONEM soil assay for cereal cyst nematode. His field research on the effects of tillage and rotation on root diseases of wheat has opened the way to the application of conservation tillage in disease-prone soils of southern Australia.
Since 1981 Dr. Rovira has been Head of Soil Biology in CSIRO Division of Soils and in 1985 was appointed Co-ordinator of Plant Pathology for CSIRO.