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Durham has a long-standing record of research into improving the resistance of crop plants towards pests, which includes pioneering work on genetic engineering of plants for insect resistance. The CpTI gene developed in Durham for enhancing insect resistance in transgenic crops has had a major impact on Chinese agriculture, due to the widespread deployment of GM cotton containing genes encoding Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin and CpTI. The SGK 321 transgenic cotton line was approved for commercial growing in China in 1999, and by the current REF period Bt/CpTI cotton was grown on approximately 0.5 million hectares of land, representing approximately 15% of the total transgenic cotton grown (which in turn represented 67% of total cotton production). The economic value of Bt/CpTI cotton is estimated as approx. £600 million per year.
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.
Research conducted by Professor Butt at Swansea University has led to significant environmental and economic impacts. It has provided evidence critical to the successful registration and commercialisation of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae as a biocontrol agent in Europe and North America for insect pests, thereby enabling a reduced dependency on chemical pesticides. Insect pests cause £billions of crop losses globally; this is projected to increase due to intensified farming, pesticide resistance and climate change. Many chemical pesticides have been withdrawn due to the risks they pose to human health and the environment, creating a need for benign alternatives. A novel risk assessment showed that the risk to human and animal health was minimal, as metabolites generated by these fungi did not enter the food chain. Furthermore, the data and risk assessment methodology developed have been used by industry and regulatory authorities (such as the European Food Safety Authority) to make informed decisions about the safety of fungal biocontrol agents.
This research represents an interdisciplinary collaboration between the School of Life Sciences and the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. The research focused on the commercialisation of biological pesticides or "biopesticides" - pest control agents from natural sources that are considered safer for humans and the environment than most conventional chemical pesticides and could potentially substitute for synthetic chemical pesticides. Biopesticide products can only be sold if they have been authorised by government regulators under UK and EU legislation. Prior to this research, only six biopesticide products had been commercialised in the UK. The research identified shortcomings in the UK biopesticide regulatory process and its associated policy network that acted as unnecessary barriers to the authorisation of biopesticides. A set of recommendations for an improved regulatory system was developed. The UK Pesticides Safety Directorate used the research to help implement a new scheme to facilitate the registration of biopesticides in the UK and therefore get more products to the market. The research was also used in 2008 to provide policy advice to the European Parliament on making greater use of biopesticides and other alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides and improving the way they are regulated. In a 2007 report by the Science Advisory Council of the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the work was highlighted as helping to facilitate the emergence of a new biopesticides sector in the UK. Since the research was started, there has been a 430% increase in the number of biopesticide products approved in the UK.
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.
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.
The Sinai Baton Blue is the world's smallest butterfly, and is restricted to the St. Katherine Protectorate in the South Sinai region of Egypt. Research by Francis Gilbert's group on climate change and biodiversity in Egypt surveyed populations of the butterfly for the first time and ensured it received IUCN Critically Endangered status. The butterfly became the focus of biodiversity awareness campaigns in Egypt: appearing on a stamp, in Government-backed educational programmes in schools, and as the flagship species for conservation in Egypt's most important National Park. Current work contributes to international conservation of this extremely rare species and its host-plant, respecting indigenous Bedouin knowledge, benefitting their tribal community, and ensuring international conservation strategies incorporate local pastoralist traditions to sustain the genetic diversity of the planet.
The impact of this work is that commercial growers of protected fruit, flower and vegetable crops around the world now have a tool to help them to detect the presence of Western Flower Thrips (WFT) in their crops, earlier and at lower numbers than they are currently able to. Growers can also enhance their existing control measures. WFT are insects that cause serious economic loss to growers because of feeding damage and virus transmission. By taking earlier and more effective action against WFT they can reduce plant damage, insecticide use and consequent financial loss.
Plant resistance provides sustainable control of the $125bn annual world crop losses to nematodes to replace environmentally hazardous pesticides. Urwin and Atkinson have developed three biosafe resistance technologies that 1) suppress feeding success, 2) reduce root invasion and 3) suppress nematode development by RNA interference. We have developed GM agriculture with leading industry (Sinochem, Monsanto) and in emerging economies through free access to technology, capacity building initiatives, review of collaborative R&D plans (India) and regulatory approval of field trials (Uganda). The work has also influenced policy-makers in the UK and in Switzerland, leading to new security measures for GM field trials in these countries..
Diseases of plants impact upon global food production and the environment, necessitating careful control. University of Nottingham (UoN) research has contributed to new lab-based and in-field tests that are extensively used by plant health inspectors and overseas organisations. The research has produced validated, accurate pathogen detection systems for use by plant health inspectorates and quarantine services as part of their testing services. The methods have been adopted by the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) in the UK for routine testing, and also by the Swiss diagnostics company Bioreba as part of their diagnostic services.