Sustainability and food security are two terms that are commonly used in relation to the UK agricultural sector. In a changing climate, there is a need to reduce the impact of endemic diseases on livestock health, welfare and productivity. The brown stomach worm, Teladorsagia circumcincta, is the most prevalent livestock roundworm parasite in the UK and has a major economic impact on the sheep industry.
Plant pathogens trigger changes in host plants that allow them to cause disease. Understanding which molecules pathogens use to do this (termed effectors), how they allow infection to take place, and how they are detected by plants has important implications for our understanding of plant disease.
The Centre for Sustainable Cropping (CSC) is a long-term experimental platform established to integrate all aspects of sustainability research on arable ecosystems. The CSC allows us to study crop management at a more integrated and system wide level and compare this to conventional crop husbandry practices. We have been using the CSC platform to study the impact of sustainable soil management practices on soil-borne pathogens. Here, we focus on the detection, quantification and impact of Rhizotonia solani: specifically, the sub-group known as R. solani AG3.
Potato is the number one wasted household food by weight, estimated at over 700,000 tonnes and with a cost of £555M per annum in the UK. Nearly half of the fresh potatoes bought by UK householders are thrown away. Working with collaborators from industry and academia we have investigated ways to improve potato storage to minimise waste.
The concept for this project began when her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, attended a special event held on Monday 21st October 2019 at Pentlands Science Park, Midlothian, to celebrate Moredun’s commitment to the contribution of livestock to food production, biodiversity and the environment. Discussions included working in collaboration with partner organisations to help promote the wider benefits of livestock in sustainable food production, promoting biodiversity and minimising any impact on the environment.
Electronic identification (EID) tags have been compulsory in UK sheep flocks since 2010, and a decade after their introduction, can still be a controversial topic. But these tags, rather than just identifying individual animals, also offer a huge opportunity to improve efficiency and productivity on-farm; allowing a greater understanding of production rates on the farm, and perhaps even in particular fields, providing an early warning of potential problems.
When lockdown was announced across the UK back in March, and the seriousness of the pandemic began to hit home with daily bulletins from the UK and Scottish government on the news and the alarming spread of COVID-19 cases, many scientists, including those at SEFARI, looked to see what they could do to help with the national effort.
Geoff Foster is a microbiologist with extensive experience of farm, companion and wildlife animals, inhabiting land, sea and air, as well as their interactions with humans and other species, including zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance.
SRUC Veterinary Services,
An Lochran,
10 Inverness Campus,
Inverness IV2 5NA
Lynsey is a post-doc at Moredun Research working on anthelmintic resistance in sheep and cattle worms