Tag: university of warwick

Diamondback moths discovered overwintering in Somerset

Posted on January 29, 2018 by - Press release

Scientists have found diamondback moth (DBM) caterpillars surviving in UK Brassica crops this winter and are recommending growers check their own crops for the pest now.

Previously considered a migratory pest, recent research from AHDB indicated that diamondback moths could be surviving UK winters.

AHDB’s Dawn Teverson, and Rosemary Collier from Warwick Crop Centre have been out in the field hunting for the caterpillars and found the pest on the underside of leaves in un-netted swede crops, located in the south west of England.

Crops evolving ten millennia before experts thought

Posted on October 23, 2017 by - Press release

Professor Robin Allaby

Ancient peoples began to systematically affect evolution of crops up to 30,000 years ago – ten millennia before experts previously thought, says new University of Warwick research

Rice, wheat and barley were used so much that their evolution was affected – beginning the process that eventually turned them from wild to domesticated – as long ago as the last Ice Age

Einkorn found to be on the evolutionary trajectory to domestication up to 30,000 years ago in modern day northern Syria, and emmer wheat up to 25,000 years ago in Southern Levant region

Research proves the existence of dense populations of people up to 30,000 years ago

Cutting-edge research points the way to canker resistant parsnip varieties

Posted on May 11, 2017 by - Press release

Studies carried out by Warwick University‘s Dr Lauren Chappell, now an Elsoms plant pathologist, have identified the three main pathogens responsible for parsnip canker, providing a secure platform for the development of disease-resistant lines. Elsoms, a global leader in parsnip breeding, is investing heavily in research, state-of-the art breeding techniques and seed production to bring UK growers the very best varieties. 

Countering the Courgette Crisis

Posted on February 7, 2017 by - Press release

It seems we are facing a Courgette Crisis. Although it’s really just a bit of a run on green vegetables, it does remind us that actually, courgettes – and now iceberg lettuce – shouldn’t be ‘February vegetables’. This raises some important issues about what we as consumers have learned to expect when it comes to food.

Warwick University PhD student Daniel Wilson wins poster prize

Posted on February 4, 2017 by - Press release

Daniel Wilson, a PhD student in Warwick University‘s School of Life Sciences and the Warwick Crop Centre, won first prize for his poster at the Royal Entomological Society Post-Graduate Forum held at Sheffield University on 2nd–3rd February.

Daniel’s project is funded by the Waitrose Agronomy Group and the University of Warwick.

BRAVO: making UK crops more resilient

Posted on January 14, 2017 by - Press release

Protecting the UK’s most valuable crops by making them more resilient is at the heart of a new five-year project, in which the University of Warwick’s School of Life Sciences will play a key role.

The Brassica, Rapeseed and Vegetable Optimisation (BRAVO) project, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), aims to combat losses of Oilseed rape and Brassica vegetable crops by unravelling the processes that control key aspects of plant development.