BBSRC has recently invested in six projects to be funded through the Newton Fund to combat one of the biggest threats to food security - agricultural losses due to pests and pathogens that are resistant to current treatments. Agricultural pests and pathogens on which current treatments have no effect are constantly emerging leaving farmers helpless to control for outbreaks.
UK rapeseed growers are losing up to a quarter of their crop yield each year because of temperature rises during an early-winter weather window. This figure emerged in new research by the John Innes Centre which identifies a critical period from late November to the Winter Solstice, December 21 or 22, where temperature has a strong link to yields.
Exploring how a hazardous fungal pathogen ‘tastes’ its surroundings within a wheat plant to coordinate virulence could be the key to developing new control strategies, scientists believe. Researchers at the University of Bath and Rothamsted Research have been examining how “fungal G-protein coupled receptors”, which are similar to taste receptors on our tongues, are involved in promoting Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) – a damaging and hazardous disease of wheat which is the number one floral disease in cereals globally.
Claire Kanja from Rothamsted Research has been named winner of the first ever Global Food Security competition ‘Speak Up for Food Security’. Twelve finalists competed to win the Global Food Security (GFS) Programme’s first ever ‘Speak Up for Food Security’ competition in London on Friday 15 March.
A follow on study by scientists at The Pirbright Institute and the University of Glasgow has demonstrated that milk samples collected in the field can be used successfully to recognise cattle infected with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). This method was used in Tanzania, where the disease is endemic and outbreaks across regions are frequent.
Aquaculture experts at the University of Stirling are leading a £2 million study that aims to provide important information on the impact of innovative farming technologies on salmon. The Robust-Smolt study – involving 14 institutions and organisations – will compare the robustness and susceptibility of Atlantic salmon to pathogens when reared in recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), used in fish farming to reduce the need for fresh, clean water while maintaining a healthy environment for fish.
Scientists have revealed how bird feathers form which could help develop breeds that are more heat resistant. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute identified chemical signals that are switched on and off in the birds’ skin as feathers are arranged sequentially.
The UK’s largest agricultural sector event kicks off tomorrow in Birmingham. The National Farmers Union’s (NFU) annual conference attracts thousands of visitors and sets the tone for the farming year ahead through political sessions and workshops focused on research, innovation and meeting the needs of the agriculture community.
People are being invited to share their views on the use of gene-editing technologies in animals through an online survey. The questionnaire is focused on people’s perceptions of gene editing in livestock, and whether they would eat meat from an animal that has had its DNA altered.
Researchers have pioneered a new method which allows them to rapidly recruit disease resistance genes from wild plants and transfer them into domestic crops. The technique called AgRenSeq or speed cloning has been developed by John Innes Centre researchers alongside colleagues in the United States and Australia to speed up the fight against pathogens that threaten food crops worldwide.
Advanced crop breeding, tackling infectious disease and clean energy technologies are just three areas where the UK will partner with world-leading collaborators to push boundaries and meet 21st century challenges. These are part of a £79 million investment in international projects announced today Tuesday 22 January 2019, that will see UK researchers and innovators working with their counterparts across the globe.
