News
See below for the latest news from the Warwick Crop Centre.
For our latest publications see Crop Centre in Print
Diamond-back moth migration
During the last week or so there has been a huge influx of diamond-back moths (Plutella xylostella) into the UK which has been reported by a number of people running light traps - mainly using Twitter. The diamond-back moth is one of the species being considered in a current AHDB Horticulture project on migrant Lepidoptera (FV 440) led by Rosemary Collier from Warwick Crop Centre. Information on the activity of this and other vegetable and salad pests can be found on the AHDB Pest Bulletin and AHDB Pest Blog.
More information on the diamond-back moth can be found here.
Plants remember stress to help protect themselves
A new generation of plants better adapted to mitigate the effects of environmental change could be created following a fundamental step towards understanding how plants are able to retain a memory of stress exposure.
The research, led by Dr Jose Gutierrez-Marcos in the School of Life Sciences and published in the journal eLife, provides the first compelling evidence that plants have evolved ways to remember previous exposures to stress, in this case high salinity conditions, which can help subsequent progenies withstand the same stress in future.
Crop Centre PhD student's new position with Syngenta
Dr Max Newbert has recently secured a position with Syngenta as a Field Technical Manager. Max will take up his new position in August, when his current IAS and BBSRC Fellowships end in July. His role will involve co-ordinating Syngenta’s R&D for the North European Territory (including the UK) and educating the work force/industry about current and potential threats to agriculture. Max’s previous work with the Plant-Virus Interactions Group, led by Professor John Walsh, focused on the genetic diversity of plant viruses, helping to identify potentially durable virus-resistant plant lines. His PhD was funded by BBSRC’s Crop Improvement Research Club (CIRC) that included major industry partners which he engaged with during the course of his research.