Resilient Crops: Forages for sustainable feed food and environment
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: IBERS
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
Forage crops: To address challenges associated with adapting UK grasslands to agricultural and environmental needs we will determine the mechanisms underpinning crop performance and ecosystem impacts of different forage species (perennial ryegrasses and clovers) under different management practices across the altitudinal gradient. Key targets include understanding the genotype by environment interactions and how this affects productivity and feed quality. Genetic technologies have the opportunity We will address bottlenecks in the implementation of biotechnologies (including gene-editing) for perennial ryegrass.
Planned Impact
unavailable
Publications
Abdian P
(2024)
Creating pathways for collaboration between Argentina and the UK to utilise microbial biofilms in sustainable agriculture
in CABI Agriculture and Bioscience
Khatri K
(2023)
Functional genomic and transformation resources for commercially important red macroalgae (Rhodophyta)
in Algal Research
| Description | Informing Ministers and supporting policy development |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | It informs the secondary legislation regarding the release of PBOs into the environment and food/feed chains, currently being prepared and planned to be laid this autumn. |
| URL | https://acnfp.food.gov.uk/ |
| Description | Informing Ministers and supporting policy development |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | It informs the secondary legislation regarding the release of PBOs into the environment and food chain, currently being prepared and planned to be laid this autumn. |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-releases-to-the-environment/about |
| Description | Lobbying Welsh politicians for better regulation |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Update for national ministries and MEPs on activities regarding New Genomic Techniques |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | The aim was to inform and influence the EC's current deliberations on new legislation for genome editing. |
| Description | A characterisation and evaluation (C&E) dataset for a wild/semi-natural perennial ryegrass representative germplasm collection |
| Amount | £276,019 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/X018598/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2023 |
| End | 12/2027 |
| Description | FoodBioSystems DTP PhD studentship. Title "Feed for Net Zero: Understanding the structure function relationships in forages driving rumen feed degradation" |
| Amount | £80,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 2878900 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2023 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Description | FoodBioSystems DTP PhD studentship. Title "Unpicking the causes of infertility in wheat triggered by temperature stress" |
| Amount | £80,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 2878860 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2023 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Description | PlastiRootS - Evaluation of complex Root traits towards Plasticity in barley under Salt stress for importing climate resilience and productivity |
| Amount | £200,512 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/Y030435/1 EC - 101105873 |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2024 |
| End | 05/2026 |
| Description | FoodBioSystems DTP PhD studentship |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Department | Institute for Global Food Security |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | PhD studentship entitled: Feed for Net Zero: Understanding the structure function relationships in forages driving rumen feed degradation. PhD student will be mainly based at IBERS, Aberystwyth University. Prof Alison Kingston-Smith (lead supervisor) and Dr Maurice Bosch (co-supervisor) will provide their extensive expertise in plant physiology, biochemistry and cell biology to the work related to exposing forage grasses to different environmental conditions. Dr Bosch will provide training in analysing cell wall composition and structure using a variety of analytical and cell biology methods. Prof Kingston-Smith will provide training on in vitro digestibility assays and assessment of methane emissions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supervised by Prof Chris Creevey (Queen's University Belfast), and as part of a 6-month placement with his research group, the student will receive training in programming and cutting edge bioinformatic analyses of microbiome data. |
| Impact | Still too early to list outputs or outcomes related to the collaboration |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | FoodBioSystems DTP PhD studentship |
| Organisation | University of Reading |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | PhD studentship title: Unpicking the causes of infertility in wheat triggered by temperature stress. PhD student principally based at Aberystwyth University under the supervision of Dr Dylan Phillips (lead supervisor). The project aims to study the effect of elevated temperature on the fertility of wheat and seeks to assay the meiotic defects generated. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Jake Bishop (co-supervisor) will bring expertise in climate modelling. Dr Christophe Lambing (Rothamsted Research, co-supervisor) also brings expertise in wheat meiosis and chemical analysis. |
| Impact | None, as yet. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | LEAF Innovation Centre |
| Organisation | Linking Environment And Farming |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | In 2023 IBERS became recognised as a LEAF Innovation Centre. The launch event included academic presentations on grasslands research and tours of facilities and field sites. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As members of the LEAF Network, members of staff including those associated with this project can benefit from networking (eg overview of research taking place at LEAF Innovation centres) and training (eg LEAF Surgery). We anticipate this collaboration to help with dissemination and realisation of impact from research. |
| Impact | Early stage collaboration planning joint activities. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | MoU for research and teaching with Puducherry University, India |
| Organisation | Pondicherry University |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I visited Puducherry University in March 2024. We met the VC and heads of key departments and signed an MoU for research and teaching. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The VC and key members of staff at Puducherry University had already had extensive discussions with staff at AU. They had agreed there was considerable scope for joint research. |
| Impact | MoU IBERS / DLS / DCS / DGES |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Engagement with NFU-Cymru on Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Attended briefing event at NFU-Cymru Head Quarters (Builth) on Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). This is linked to role as academic board advisory group member on net zero for NFU and on wider engagement with farming community on climate change: mitigation and adaptation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.nfu-cymru.org.uk/news-and-information/supply-chain-sfs-concerns-heard-at-nfu-cymru-meeti... |
| Description | Invited lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited (online) lecture 'The regulation of gene-editing technology in the UK and Europe'. PASE-NBT Conference on Gene-editing 26th-27th April, 2023 Canberra, Australia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/files/documents/PASE_Canberra_Meeting_flyer.pdf |
| Description | Invited lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | I spoke at a USDA Biotech Outreach Program event for the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Agriculture & Development Seminar Series (ADSS), Breeding Innovations for Increasing Productivity and Climate Resilience in Crops and Livestock, August 15, 2023. Hybrid. "Dear Dr. Jones, We'd like to thank you again for sharing your expertise during the forum yesterday. Your insights and perspective were truly valuable, and we were all thoroughly engaged by your presentation. We had more than 200 participants on Zoom and onsite." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.searca.org/news/searca-usda-fas-isaaa-inc-hold-public-seminar-agri-biotech |
| Description | Invited lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Invited in person lecture. 'Plant biotechnology regulation in Europe'. Bio Turkiye, Biotechnology Ecosystem for a Sustainable Life. Ottoman Archive Complex, Istanbul. 28 - 30 September 2023 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://bioturkiye.org/congress/docs/bilimsel-program.pdf?a=9876 |
| Description | Invited to present at the International Conference On Plant Biotechnology and Genome Editing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | International Conference On Plant Biotechnology and Genome Editing June 27-29, 2023 Kakatiya University, Warangal, India. Presented a invited talk on gene editing, took part in a panel discussion and interviewed by the media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://icpbgeku.kuservices.in/ |
| Description | Lecture (undergraduate) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture on gene editing to 60 undergraduate students studying biology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Panel discussion at public event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Member of a panel for an event on 'Sheep and the climate emergency' discussing options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from sheep farming as part of the Llandovery Sheep Festival. There was considerable interest in the event and a follow-up is being planned to run alongside the Festival in 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Stakeholder Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation and breakout discussions at Stakeholder workshop on the 'Implementation of genetic technologies in the UK food chain' In person event with approximately 60 invited stakeholders from the agricultural, breeding, retail, food safety and regulatory sectors. One Great George St. London 26th Jan 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Stakeholder event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A workshop was held on 12th July with the Pwllpeiran Associates, a stakeholder group made of policymakers/implements from organisations including the National Farmers Union, Farmers Union of Wales, RSPB, National Trust, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Natural Resources Wales, Nature Friendly Farming Network, and Plantlife. There was particular interest from the group in the new experimental work testing wild ecotypes of perennial ryegrass and red clover selected from accessions held within IBERS Biobank. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Wales Ecology & Evolution Network conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited to give the keynote talk at the 2024 conference of the Wales Ecology & Evolution Network, which is a student-run annual conference which aims to promote post-graduate research and create a networking platform for early-career scientists at Welsh Universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ween.wales/ |