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Local authorities, the UK government and the European Commission have benefitted from the widespread application of new molecular methodologies, developed in 2005 and applied by the University of Reading's Vertebrate Pests Unit (VPU) to identify and quantify anticoagulant rodenticide resistance in rodent populations. Rodents are a major global pest that consumes our food, causes contamination with urine and faeces, damages structures through gnawing, transmits diseases, and impacts on species of conservation concern. Due to historical success and recent regulatory restrictions, anticoagulant rodenticides are the most common control method for these pests. However, physiological resistance to anticoagulants is now widespread and the VPU has been involved in mapping this resistance and identifying the genetic basis for the resistance. Their research has led to new methodologies to identify anticoagulant resistance that have been adopted by the global plant science industry and to new guidance in treating resistant populations that has been adopted by the European biocides industry.
Decreased crop yields caused by the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds are a global threat to agriculture and food security. Evolution of weed resistance to the herbicide glyphosate is particularly prevalent in North and South America, where genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crops are widely grown. Research carried out at the University of Warwick between 2008 and 2013 and led by Dr Paul Neve, in collaboration with industry and academia, has resulted in the development of computer models to simulate the evolution of glyphosate resistance in weeds. This modelling research identified new, more sustainable farming strategies for the use of this technology, such as avoidance of sole reliance on glyphosate and more effective ways to manage the timing of herbicide application. These recommendations have been disseminated widely throughout North America by the attendance of Neve and project collaborators at grower conferences, workshops and road shows, and have also attracted associated press coverage. The research has fundamentally changed farmer and industry management of genetically modified herbicide-resistant crops by providing new plant growth guidelines that are being used to combat herbicide-resistant weeds; for example, providing the cotton growth guidelines used for 75% of this crop in the mid-southern USA.
Impact: Economic: The first fungicide-based control schemes minimising UK barley yield losses (saving approx. 516K tonnes / £95.1M per annum). A risk assessment method, which minimised pesticide usage.
Significance: Barley is the second most popular cereal crop grown in the UK — in 2012, 5.52 million tonnes of barley were grown (market value £1.02 billion). The research led to savings to the UK farming industry of ~£5.4 million per annum
Beneficiaries: Farmers, malting and brewing industries, UK tax revenue.
Attribution: Drs. Oxley, Havis, Hughes, Fountaine, and Burnett (SRUC) identified the pathogen and produced a field test for early identification of infestation.
Reach: Barley growing, malting and brewing sectors, seed and agrochemical industries UK-wide and in Ireland.
Antibiotic resistance has become one of the great challenges to human health in the 21st century with increasing numbers of isolates of many pathogenic bacteria being resistant to front line, therapeutic antibiotics. Recent evidence has suggested that antibiotic resistance can be selected by exposure to biocides, which are commonly used as disinfectants and preservatives.
Research at the University of Birmingham has shown the common mechanistic links between antibiotic and triclosan (a commonly used biocide) resistance. This research was used by the European Commission as evidence to support two reports published in 2009 and 2010 to inform opinions as to the safety of biocide use. These reports recommended specific new research avenues be funded and that possible selection of antibiotic resistance by biocides is a valid concern and were used as part of the evidence base in preparation of a new law which has come in to force across the European Union.
Biocide use and sales in Europe have been controlled by the Biocidal Products Directive since 1998. This legislation has been superseded by the EU Biocides Regulation (published May 2012, legally binding from September 2013). This new legislation now includes a requirement for new biocides to be demonstrated not to select resistance to themselves or antibiotics in target organisms before achieving registration; this addition was informed by University of Birmingham research. This will prevent biocides entering the environment that exert a selective pressure and favour the emergence of mutant bacteria with increased biocide and antibiotic resistance. Thus the research described has had an impact on policy debate and the introduction of new legislation.
Research using novel techniques of genetic marker-aided selection enabled the development of new high yield, disease- and drought-resistant pearl millet hybrids, of which HHB67-Improved was released throughout India. HHB67-Improved is the first product of marker-assisted breeding to reach cereal producers in India and has spread rapidly since its release, preventing yield losses to downy mildew of up to 30% (valued at £7.8M) per year, and providing £2.6M additional annual grain yield. By 2011, it was grown on over 700,000 ha and currently three million people have improved food security as a direct result of this international development focused work.
Cranfield's work on ethylene supplemented storage is now exploited in the supply chains to major supermarkets in the UK, including Waitrose and Tesco, reducing waste and avoiding volatility in supply for fresh food products such as onions and potatoes. By prolonging storage life by up to six weeks it is also having a positive impact on the UK's self-sufficiency in these products, displacing imports from overseas.
Complementary work has also led to commercial ethylene scrubbing technologies for packaging, which typically save around 50% of in-store waste and add two days to the product life for a range of fruit and vegetables. Such packing is now in use in most mainstream UK supermarkets, and in the USA where it has created a new export market for the manufacturer.
University of Huddersfield research in physical organic chemistry has delivered economic, industrial and societal benefits. It has led to process improvements in chemical manufacturing, most notably in the optimisation of the synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides and in the use of liquid ammonia as a solvent. It has also led to the development of new inhibitors of bacterial β-lactamases for use as antibacterials. The research team's expertise has been reflected in the success of IPOS (Innovative Physical Organic Solutions), a unit established in 2006 to carry out research in process and other areas of chemistry for the chemical industry. IPOS expanded significantly from 2009 to 2013 and has now collaborated with more than 150 companies, many of them based in Yorkshire/Humberside where regeneration is critically dependent on the success of new, non-traditional, high-technology firms and industries. Through these collaborative projects, IPOS has contributed to the growth and prosperity of both regional and national industry.
Our research has led to increased crop yields and a reduction in the need for synthetic pesticides, through a new patented technology of treating seed with the natural plant signalling molecule, jasmonic acid. Lancaster's fundamental research in to the biology of plant-herbivore interactions showed for the first time that jasmonic acid (JA) seed treatment of a range of crops improved pest resistance for many weeks after germination, without the physiological costs of foliar JA application. We have patented this JA seed treatment technology (patents awarded in USA, Canada, Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico, applied for in three other major countries) and licensed it to BASF (previously Becker Underwood). JA seed treatments have been available to growers in the USA since 2010, and the technology is being rolled-out internationally for a range of major global crops.
Research and knowledge dissemination led by Greenwich on biological pesticides has made a major contribution to the introduction of novel safe commercial pesticides based on insect viruses to help farmers overcome the problems of chemical resistance in major crop pests in Asia and Africa. Research at Greenwich identified effective virus strains, methods of production and formulation which were then developed and evaluated with in country research collaborators before being transferred to local SMEs to start up production in India, Thailand, Kenya and Tanzania. Greenwich advised governments on adopting suitable regulation to support the registration and sale of these novel pesticides.
Based on innovative technology invented and developed through research at the University of Southampton, sustainable pest control products by spinout company Exosect are being employed around the world to preserve the global food supply. Since 2008 its bio-control products have been newly adopted in diverse situations: by Sainsbury's in response to consumer pressure to reduce chemicals in food; by Bayer CropScience, who bought rights, in a multimillion pound deal, to a product for the protection of bee populations; by English Heritage to preserve the UK's cultural heritage. The technology has inspired a US$1m Gates Foundation grant for poverty reduction efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and raised awareness among conventional pesticide manufacturers of the environmental and economic benefits of bio-control solutions.