Award details

16AGRITECHCAT5: Using stress pre-conditioning, novel sensors and AMF to improve yields, resilience and sustainability of raspberry production

Reference	BB/P00511X/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Mark Else
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Eleftheria Stavridou, Professor Xiangming Xu
Institution	National Inst of Agricultural Botany
Department	Centre for Research
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	497,967
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/03/2017
End date	31/01/2021
Duration	47 months

Abstract

UK raspberry production was worth £109M in 2014, but a further 11kT of berries, worth £59M, are imported each year. A 20% increase in the 14kT of fruit produced p.a. in the UK would help to lower imports by 2.8KT, and raise the value of the UK industry by £15.7M p.a.. However, improved on-farm management of water and fertiliser inputs is needed to optimise productivity and quality; currently, excessive fertigation to substrate crops result in vigorous cane growth which makes crop management and harvesting very costly. Nutrient leaching also poses a risk to water body quality. We will use novel affinity sensors combined with fuzzy logic to predict nutrient inputs, then automatically adjust doses to match plant demand in real time. Fertiliser losses to the environment will be reduced, and berry quality improved. Stress preconditioning and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) will be used to raise yields, improve resource use and acquisition, and increase crop resilience to abiotic stresses.

Summary

The UK soft fruit industry is a vital part of the UK's rural economy with sales of raspberry estimated at £109M in 2014 (Defra). However, imports have doubled since 2005 and 11kT of berries, worth £59M /year, are imported to satisfy UK consumer demand. UK growers average yields of 13T/ha, although 20T/ha is achievable. A modest 20% increase in marketable yields could raise the value of the UK industry by £15.7M/year, whilst helping to reduce imports. The challenge is to raise yields and reduce waste whilst using resources more sustainably in order to ensure security of future production and to lower the environmental impact of intensive horticulture. The project will develop new opportunities to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the sector. BerryGardens Growers Ltd (BGG), lead partner in this Agri-Tech Catalyst bid, is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit PO with a market share in excess of 30%. The consortium has expertise in soft fruit agronomy and husbandry, crop physiology and nutrition, fungal physiology, food quality science, environmental monitoring, sensor engineering and fuzzy logic inference systems (FLIS), and a strong track record of delivering and exploiting results of publicly-funded R&D. The proposed scientific and technological innovations have not yet been developed by us or others and represent leading edge applied science and engineering. We will: 1) deploy affinity sensors being developed in IUK 101824 to monitor continuously input and output nutrient concentrations, and use a FLIS to predict substrate (coir) ion concentrations; 2) investigate the potential of using AMF to improve resource acquisition and stress resilience; 3) develop Transient Deficit Irrigation (TDI) as a tool to control cane vigour withour reducing yields, thereby reducing labour and production costs; 4) use stress pre-conditioning to improve crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses, 5) deliver automated, real-time precision fertigation control into commercial production using an affinity sensor platform integrated with the Decision Support System (DSS) being developed in IUK 102124. Proof-of-concept of these novel approaches and technologies will be tested in experiments using proprietary raspberry varieties at East Malling Research (EMR). The systems will then be deployed and developed further on BGG grower sites to quantify the potential to deliver greater on-farm fertiliser use efficiency and environmental sustainability, and raise grower margins from higher yields, consistent high quality and increased production efficiency. We anticipate revenue gains to consortium members of c. £8M p.a. arising from adoption of the outputs. The route to market will be via roll-out to BGG's UK soft fruit growers and overseas partners in the first instance, and to other UK and overseas producers of high value horticultural crops where improved farming precision is needed to advance sustainable intensification and deliver economic impact.

Impact Summary

The main economic and social benefits will be a significant boost to the economic and environmental performance of the UK's soft fruit and ancillary industries. BGG will benefit from improved NUE during production, higher profits due to increased tonnages to sell and improved fruit quality and shelf-life potential. In turn, this will attract more grower members to BGG. EMS will benefit from a new market opportunity to sell the NO3 and PO4 sensors and other sensors being developed for a range of chemicals. NUK will benefit from new business upgrading BerryDSS on soft and tree fruit farms. PW will increase their involvement with the soft fruit industry by extending the current scope of existing AMF. An improved understanding of how stress preconditioning, AMF and FLIS can be used to improve resource use and acquisition, and crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses will enable EMR to develop new opportunities to improve food chain quality, stress resilience and environmental performance. 4) Wider benefits. Growers, POs, retailers and consumers will benefit from higher yields leading to increased tonnage to sell, improved consistency of supply of high quality fresh fruit with an assured shelf-life leading to reduced wastage in store, greater resource use efficiency leading to cost savings and improved environmental performance in areas of intensive horticultural production. These benefits will be delivered over 10 years. The project consortium anticipates that the innovative technologies will also benefit the wider research and grower communities to provide substantial environmental and sociological opportunities for the UK horticultural industry. Benefits will include improved resource use efficiency, a reduction in diffuse pollution at source, improved consistency of fruit yields and quality despite changeable weather, assured shelf-life and reduced wastage on-farm and in store and improved choice of UK-sourced high quality fruit for consumers. The technologiesand approaches developed will be transferable to all high value horticulture sectors and will help to improve on-farm resource use efficiencies and marketable yields. The project outputs will help to reduce the environmental impact of intensive horticultural production on water body quality which is an increasing cause for concern in the major soft and tree fruit growing regions and especially so in the south east. Adoption of the new technology by the horticulture industries would also help to promote public awareness of primary producers' commitment to reducing impacts on the environment as they strive to meet the challenges associated with sustainable intensification. These benefits will be delivered over a 10-year timeframe. By becoming more efficient, the industry will become more competitive in the market place and this should deliver improved values for the buyers of the product. Producing higher yields of more flavoursome fruit with an improved phytonutrient content and extended shelf-life in an environmentally sustainable way should help to stimulate increased consumption which links into the government agenda on healthy eating to combat obesity and associated diseases. The project outputs would also deliver into produce assurance schemes such as LEAF Marque and the Red Tractor Scheme and retailers' own corporate sustainability schemes. Increasing resource efficiency and economic output from the same area of land will benefit the environment and water-related ecosystem services and impact positively on the people living within the producer communities. The ratio of inputs such as water, energy, pesticides and fertilisers will be lowered if higher yields of quality product can be produced from the same area of land. The development of these innovations could have a very large economic, environmental and social impact to the UK sustainability and health agenda for parties outside of the consortium. EMR is an RTO, eligible for 100% Public Sector Funding

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Crop Science, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Agri-Tech Catalyst (ATC) [2013-2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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