Deadline: 31-Oct-22
The Plant Health Centre (PHC) is seeking applications for the project entitled, “The evidence-base for tailored plant nutrition as a tool for improved crop health and reduced reliance on pesticides”.
International literature is often cited by those selling and promoting the use of plant nutrition products with a risk that what is appropriate to e.g., rice or peanuts is not going the be appropriate in the Scottish context. Technical literature supporting these products sometimes includes pseudo-scientific content on the benefits of specific amino acids or humic acids, where more conventional science sources would suggest that their uptake or use by plants is minimal.
Understanding the approaches and mechanism at play and reviewing the evidence in formal and grey literature, as it might apply to key Scottish crops, would allow for some initial recommendations on examples likely to be beneficial in an IPM strategy. It would also identify those examples where their usage only adds to cost or enhances risk. Since optimising plant nutrition is being farmer led in Scotland at the moment, a key objective of this call is to gather evidence on the products and approaches being used on farms currently so that some case studies can be drafted to inform best practice advice.
Impact: Optimising crop nutrition to improve plant health for key Scottish crops, ultimately increasing the resilience of Scotland’s crops to pests and diseases and reducing reliance on pesticides.
Objectives
- Engage with stakeholders to determine the main approaches and products in use and elicit information on their user experiences. This aspect could be written up as case study examples.
- Review formal and grey literature on international examples of nutritional amendments to promote plant health, together with the means and mechanisms involved.
- Discuss and evidence how this might pertain to key Scottish crops and key pest and disease risks.
- Make recommendations on the products and approaches reviewed, i.e. those where there is evidence to support claims and are therefore more likely to be useful; those where more information is needed, and those where there is evidence that they are ineffective or have deleterious effects.
- For approaches identified as beneficial, a discussion of how they might be included in Scottish IPM approaches will be used to inform KE messaging.
Funding Information
Maximum funding available (including overheads and VAT, where applicable): Up to £25,000
Outputs
- Final Report (<20 pages of text excluding figures, appendices, and references) on investigations, to contain key sources, findings and recommendations for implementation or further work.
- Brief policy summary (1-2 pages) explaining how the work has contributed to filling evidence gaps and the context in which the findings can be used by policy makers and practitioners.
- Attendance at briefing discussion with PHC Steering group to discuss findings and next steps.
- Presentation at Scotland’s Plant Health conference or any other relevant stakeholder meeting(s) to disseminate findings and contribution to other KE output such as the PHC virtual poster room or blogs.
For more information, visit Plant Health Centre.
For more information, visit https://www.planthealthcentre.scot/call-for-projects