Project preserves cream of UK crop and soil material for future studies

Scientists from across the UK are working to create a “Noah’s Ark” of genetic crop and soil material as part of efforts to drive sustainable yield improvements in crops.

Agricultural research institutes, including Scotland’s Rural College ( SRUC) and the James Hutton Institute based near Dundee, are creating a bank of microbiomes from crop systems for six major crops – barley, oats, oilseed rape, potato, sugar beet and wheat.

Led by international agriculture problemsolving body CABI, the UK Crop Microbiome Cryobank will provide a facility for researchers to source data and microbiome samples from different crop systems and soils across the UK.

Microbiomes are all the microbes present in any one ecosystem; in the case of a crop they are those present in ever ything from the leaves, seeds and stems to the bulk soil around the roots.

Dr Matthew Ryan from CABI said: “By preserving these valuable crop microbial samples, from a unique snapshot in time, we will generate a representative, very valuable and unique resource from key UK crop systems that will become a vital resource for scientific researchers for generations to come.

“We will be using UK -deve loped cryotechnology that uses liquid nitrogen to keep the samples secure at very cold temperatures.

“If you like, it is a Noah’s Ark of UK microbes from crop systems and one that has many potential exciting uses.”

The project will run for five years.

Crop samples are being collected by scientists.