AHDB has issued a £290,000 call for proposals to update nutrient management guidance for cereals and potatoes.
The call follows a comprehensive review of nutrient research over the past seven years to update the Fertiliser Manual, which will be published by AHDB as the Nutrient Management Guide in May 2017.
The review identified opportunities for further research to inform future revisions of the guide. Revisions are currently scheduled for 2018 and 2020.
The call seeks to address key knowledge gaps in nitrogen and sulphur requirements for spring barley and potato crops. These include nitrogen and sulphur management in spring malting barley to achieve malting industry specifications and optimisation of nitrogen for different potato determinacy groups.
Further calls are planned on other research opportunities identified during the review.
'Important macronutrients'
Sajjad Awan, AHDB resource management scientist, said: “Our wide-ranging review of nutrient research threw up a number of areas for further investigation. While we are currently working on launching our new guide in May, we want to be ahead of the curve by commissioning new work to inform nutrient management guidance in the longer term.
“This new investment will improve our understanding of these important macronutrients and lead to the development of even better guidance so growers can produce crops that fulfil both their yield and quality potential.”
Applications, which may involve one or more organisation and can be for all or part of the available funding, will need to demonstrate a strong programme of knowledge exchange (KE) activity to run alongside the research.
In 2014, AHDB took on responsibility and ownership of the Fertiliser Manual. AHDB set up a partnership of organisations, drawn from across the UK, which fund research and/or knowledge exchange on crop nutrient management.
A comprehensive review on nutrient research in the past 7 years (2008-2015) was conducted to revise the Fertiliser Manual. This was overseen by the AHDB-led UK Partnership for Crop Nutrient Management and delivered by an ADAS-led consortium of experts from across the UK research community, with an in-kind contribution of approximately £200,000 by the industry.
