The National Institute of Agricultural Botany has awarded its Cereals Cup to the malting spring barley variety Quench from Syngenta Seeds.
NIAB chief executive Dr Tina Barsby presented the award to Syngenta’s head of barley breeding Paul Bury and Robert Hiles, global malting barley business manager, at the Cereals 2009 event.
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The National Institute of Agricultural Botany has verified the presence of a new race of yellow rust on UK winter wheat.
In 2008 the Fera/HGCA-funded UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS) at NIAB collected two isolates of yellow rust from plants of the Group 1 wheat Solstice. Tests confirmed the isolates were virulent on seedlings of the variety.
NIAB has added three more varieties to the NIAB Herbage Recommended List for 2009 following an appeals procedure. All three have been recommended for special use.
CONTRAST, marketed by Limagrain, is a diploid intermediate perennial ryegrass. It has been provisionally recommended for special use (PS) as a grazing variety due to a very good yield under simulated grazing and a high early spring growth offering a good early bite.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and The Arable Group (TAG) are at an advanced stage of merger discussions to create a national, independent centre for applied crop research and information.
Both organisations believe a merged operation, focused on the needs of progressive arable farmers, will provide an unrivalled source of high quality, unbiased research and information, offering expertise and services along the length of the seed, variety and crop protection development pipelines.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany is investigating a potential new race of yellow rust on winter wheat.
In 2008 the United Kingdom Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS) collected two isolates of yellow rust from Group 1 wheat Solstice and confirmed that they were virulent on seedlings of the variety. Solstice currently has a resistance rating of 9 and, until last season, was resistant to all known races of yellow rust.
Two scientists from NIAB have begun a series of visits to schools in the region to promote the National Year of Food and Farming.
Mike Day, who is responsible for the vegetable trials programme at NIAB, and fellow scientist Dr Lydia Smith, started by giving a humorous and informative illustrated talk about the origins of the food we eat, as well as our genetic make up, to pupils at Foxton Primary School.
Three new varieties have been added to the 2010 BBRO/NIAB Recommended List of Sugar Beet Varieties. This is fewer than recent years and with withdrawals means there are now 17 varieties to choose from.
NIAB has announced the appointment to the NIAB Trust of Cambridgeshire-based grower John Shropshire. Mr Shropshire heads up the family farming company G’s Marketing Limited, based at Barway, near Ely, which supplies salad crops and field vegetables from 25 co-operative farms covering 15,000 acres in the UK and 10,000 acres in Spain.
Dr Tina Barsby, chief executive of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge, has welcomed the call from Professor John Beddington, the government’s chief scientific adviser, for significant investment in scientific research to meet the world’s future food needs.
