current PROJECTS

Student: Nigel Muchiwanga 

Industrial Partner: AB InBev

Industrial supervisor: Tanya Henderson

Academic Partner: University of Nottingham

Academic Supervisor: David Cook

Key malt processing quality parameters, like the starch gelatinization temperature, vary with barley variety and harvest year. More knowledge is required regarding the relative significance of genotype, environment and crop management practices in determining starch properties.  This project will be conducted in partnership with AB InBev, the world’s largest brewing company, who manufacture one in four of all beers consumed worldwide. There will be an opportunity to gain valuable industry experience during a placement within a Technical Division of AB InBev.

In Year 1, several lines will be grown across two distinct sites to generate samples for initial characterization, training in the required techniques and to provide an initial snapshot of the significance of genotype. In subsequent years selected varieties will be grown in multiple sites both within the UK and globally under controlled conditions selected to evaluate the separate impacts of environment and crop management practices. Barley samples will be micromalted and characterized for significant parameters related to starch breakdown during mashing, including: nitrogen content, a- and b-amylase activities, starch content, amylose to amylopectin ratio. Thermal properties of the starches will be determined using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Rapid Visco Analysis (RVA). Malts will be mashed using industry standard protocols and the resulting wort extract and fermentable sugars spectrum determined. Statistical analyses will determine the relative impacts of genotype, site and management practices on starch properties and function.  Desirable traits and practices linked to best performance in brewing will be identified.

Student: Christy Smith

Industrial Partner: Limagrain

Industrial supervisor: Clara Simon

Academic Partner: University of Nottingham

Academic Supervisor: David Cook

Malting is one of the oldest biotechnologies, but urgently requires innovative approaches to reduce energy and water consumption to deliver long-term sustainability.  Steeping is the first step in the malting process and is where the barley grains are submersed in water to increase the moisture content of grains homogeneously and trigger germination. Steeping also acts to clean the grain and remove germination inhibitors.  Steeping normally entails using successive wet (under water) and dry stands (‘air rests’), which ensure the grain does not ‘drown’ from continuous immersion, improves germinative vigour and the rate of water uptake overall. Two or three wet steep cycles are commonly employed, which contribute significantly to the maltings water usage (typically 2.5-6 m³/tonne).  Each steep utilises around 0.8 m³/tonne (conical bottomed or Eco-steep vessels) or 1.3 m³/tonne (flat bottomed vessels). Thus, the industry is looking towards technologies, raw materials and processes which enable more water efficient steep processes using fewer steeps. Examples of this include the use of ‘pre-steep’ processes in washing screws (0.3 m³/tonne) followed by one ‘main’ steep, or the recently developed ‘Optisteep’ technology. The latter continuously circulates steep water through a 2-stage water purification and oxidation process which enables a faster and continuous 1-wet steep. 

We hypothesise that malting barley varieties will react differently under these novel conditions as plant breeders will not have been selecting lines to meet these new criteria.  The aim of this project is to identify the best performing lines in these new steeping regimes and to identify genetic markers that can differentiate good and bad performing lines.  To achieve this goal, the project will use a diversity panel, comprising mainly spring barley lines, to identify these key loci using genome-wide association studies.  The final panel will comprise both old and new varieties and will be selected from a larger set of material that has been assessed for its germination index following steeping.   The screen will allow for an investigation of the physiological and genetic characteristics that enable barley lines to germinate homogeneously under these differing water regimes and whether the result of these selection pressures would have positive or negative effects on agronomic performance.  The project will be able to investigate whether known QTL for germinative energy, identified in the IMPROMALT project, explain some of the genetic variation or that novel loci are important for this new malting environment.

Student: Pippa Wan

Industrial Partner: Scotch Whisky Research Institute

Industrial supervisor: Paulina Oroko

Academic Partner: SRUC and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Neil Havis and Ingo Hein

Across the cereals sector, there is much interest in grain health and the presence of seed borne pathogens, especially in barley for malting. One of the major economic barley diseases in Scotland is Ramularia leaf spot (RLS), caused by the dothidiomycete fungus, Ramularia collo-cygni . This fungus has been shown to reduce grain yield and quality. It also has a seed borne stage in its life cycle. This BARIToNE PhD project builds on previous research by investigating (1) the effect of R. collo-cygni presence in harvested grain on malting and sprit (2) utilising previous genome wide analysis, which identified candidate gene regions associated with field resistance, we will genetically dissect this region using multi-parent populations developed from landraces and an elite cultivar (3) the potential for these crosses to display increased resistance to the pathogen will be validated in controlled condition and field experiments. The project relates strongly to the reduced input theme as RLS control relies on fungicide sprays just before head emergence.  To address these three objectives, the project will combine biochemistry, genetics, genomics and field phenotyping in the following experimental approaches:

Biochemical approaches.  Micromalting of infected samples to determine malt quality (predicted spirit yield), diastatic power and wort viscosity in grain samples with varying levels of Rcc (including some lines with enhanced tolerance/resistance) . Then alcohol yield, congener profile and flavour profile of spirit produced from that malt. This will provide robust evidence on the impact of the fungus on product quality and also the impact of breeding for resistance on grain quality.

Genetics and genomic approaches. A recent genome wide association analysis has highlighted candidate genes on the barley chromosomes which are associated with disease resistance in field experiments. An analysis will be conducted on a wider panel of genotypes including landrace accessions from a legacy collection, to identify genotypes which carry the candidate genes and develop novel germplasm for validation in controlled and field studies.

Field disease phenotyping and validation approaches.  i) Testing predicted resistance. The levels of resistance in the panel of genotypes analysed in part 2 will be tested in controlled conditions and field experiments to determine levels of resistance to symptom expression. ii) Resistant and susceptible lines will be tested for levels of apoplastic leakage and cuticle thickness to determine their potential influence on disease levels.

Throughout the research programme, the student will have opportunity to engage with broader strategic research on crop health and improvement.

Student: Sophie Blenkinsopp

Industrial Partner: Chivas Brothers

Industrial supervisor: Richard Allan

Academic Partner: SRUC and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Steve Hoad, Alex Morell

Climate change and society’s reaction to it will, both directly and indirectly, push agricultural production to have to function in increasingly marginal conditions. We need to utilise the crop diversity available to generate the improved crop varieties that will be adapted to these marginal conditions while at the same time mitigating climate change by reducing N inputs. Understanding the yield architecture under reduced inputs (nitrogen and water) will be key to the future breeding of such varieties and to managing both nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. The genetic control of nitrogen uptake and utilisation will underpin the realised NUE and resilience to abiotic stress, such as variation in water availability, will be key to adaptation.

This project will quantify a range of above and below ground traits associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation, in relevant populations of barley. This study will therefore include detailed dissection of yield architecture and partition of nitrogen as well as an overview of root system architecture.

There are a number of barley populations that are available to the project, but the focus will begin on a Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population produced by KWS using 12 donor parents including barley landraces from a range of environments with a range of inherent stress. This population has been extensively genotyped and a working population of 89 lines has been selected from 352 lines. Importantly previous field trialling has already indicated that this subset includes introgressions from the landrace/older varietal parents that have a beneficial effect on yield and yield stability over a range of environments. Initial research will focus on this core set of lines and derived material.

In the preliminary experiments the candidate will subject the NAM population to a range of reduced N and variable water availability treatments (field or CE?). Data will be used to derive QTLs for tolerance to reduced N inputs, water stress and a combination of both stresses and their association with a range of developmental and morphological traits. These initial studies will guide subsequent experimentation that will include glasshouse and field phenotyping and molecular physiological studies. The PhD candidate will have the opportunity to develop the project further in the direction of genetics/genomics, plant physiology and nitrogen use and will have the opportunity to work closely with scientists and breeders in KWS, the commercial partner.

Student: Happison Chikova

Industrial Partner: Chivas Brothers

Industrial supervisor: Ronald Daalmans

Academic Partner: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisor: Jagadeesh Yeluripati, Frances Sandison and John Rowan

In November 2018, the Committee on Climate Change reported that ‘fundamental reform is required to ensure that land becomes a more effective carbon store’ (CCC, 2018), and suggested land use policy must promote radically different uses of UK land to support deeper emissions reductions. Existing carbon trading or payment mechanisms have highlighted the enormous potential for economic levers to deliver Net Zero. Progress made in GHG mitigation and carbon sequestration in agriculture and land use sector is very slow and faces challenges technically due to lack of scalable alternate processes and economically lack of viable customised business models suited for local conditions. 

Robust knowledge and tools are needed for policymakers and farmers to ensure future sustainable management of soils, and production of agricultural commodities to meet Net Zero goals. There is a need for credible and reliable measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) platforms, for national reporting, emissions trading and to track progress towards Net Zero, as well as transparency and understanding of GHG emissions along the entirety of product supply chains.  

The PhD student is expected to upscale technology developed in RETINA project by dealing with various stakeholders ranging from farmers to private and public sector stakeholders. The student is expected to undertake a case study on the Whisky supply chain, to create carbon footprint models to identify hotspots, potential improvements and viable business models for carbon farming and trading. This PhD will characterize the elements of successful business models, identify market failures, and outline a range of challenges to be overcome to build a commercial case for the private sector for viable carbon trading. The student will build on existing strengths within Hutton developed with recent success (2 million investment). This includes the NERC-RETINA project, which developed a functional digital MVR prototype by combining information from field-based sensors, remote sensing, smartphone apps and integration of models to confirm management practice effectiveness on soil carbon and GHG reductions, and the EU-SENSE project.

The project provides excellent opportunities for training in multi-disciplinary skills and techniques spanning agroecology, biogeochemical modelling, statistical analysis, training in High performance computing and knowledge translation that will be highly attractive to future employers. The project will suit candidates with an agriculture/agroecology background interested in working with stakeholders to solve sustainability challenges facing the barley industry. Placements at Chivas Brothers will provide invaluable insights into the practicalities of processing grain for malt and spirits, and an important link to barley growers supplying the whisky industry. 

Student: Kira Lutter

Industrial Partner: Glenmorangie

Industrial supervisor: Gillian MacDonald

Academic Partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Eric Paterson, Roy Neilson, Davide Bulgarelli

The Climate Emergency demands that innovative and effective mitigations are urgently developed to achieve a just transition to Net Zero. There is an increasing focus on how this can be tackled in the agricultural sector, while still maintaining production for a growing global population. This project, co-developed by academic and industry partners, will explore the potential for reducing the environmental impact of barley cultivation for the whisky industry.

Whisky is the single most valuable Food and Drink product in the UK (£5.5Bn in 2020), but the barley cultivation stage contributes approximately 50% of the carbon footprint associated with each bottle produced. In large part, this is a consequence of chemical fertiliser use (both energy costs of manufacture and GHG fluxes from soil following application). Therefore, strategies to reduce use of chemical fertilisers, while maintaining sustainable grain production are urgently needed.

The use of distillery wastes for energy production (biogas) through anaerobic digestion (AD) is already an established means of off-setting carbon costs of whisky manufacture. However, AD itself generates wastes with high-nutrient content (digestates) that have potentially deleterious environmental impacts (e.g. effluent discharges affecting water quality). Therefore, the specific aim of this project is to examine the potential value of AD wastes for use as fertiliser replacements, exploiting their high-nutrient value in barley cultivation and supporting circular economy principles through diversion from waste streams. The research will involve controlled environment and field trials to assess the fertiliser equivalence of AD wastes, quantifying growth and grain quality of malting barley, relative to chemical fertilisers. It is essential that impacts of AD wastes on soil health are neutral or positive, and the project will quantify effects of their application on soil biological diversity and functions. This will include isotopic approaches to quantify carbon and nutrient cycling processes in soils (including GHG fluxes and nutrient leaching), combined with molecular characterisation of microbial /faunal communities to determine associated impacts of AD waste application. Based on results obtained, formulations (e.g., AD effluent in combination with biochar generated from solid waste fractions) will be explored to optimise barley production and to foster long-term sustainability of soil ecosystem services in malting barley production systems.

Student: Milos Micik

Industrial Partner: James Hutton Ltd

Industrial supervisor: Jonathan Snape

Academic Partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Runxuan Zhang, Sarah McKim, Fraser Macfarlane and Ping Lin

Supervised deep learning networks and segmentation algorithms, developed in Prof Lin’s lab, have been successfully applied in dentistry to segment dental scan images, identify tooth types, and measure surgical outcomes using 3D models. We aim to leverage methods, tools, and expertise in Lin’s lab to

1. In the controlled environment, e.g. using the image station at APGC,
2. Construct accurate 2D and 3D models for single or a small number of plants using images taken from multiple viewing angles.
3. Using these models, develop machine learning based automatic systems that allows the detection of different components of the plants, such as leaf, stem, flower, seeds, etc and
4. provide accurate measurements for a list of comprehensive plant traits such as plant height, leaf size, canopy size and maturation time and derived measures such as seed weights, etc.

• Using the drone images and images captured by new robot from JHL, we will improve the algorithms developed for “real life” field condition,  field conditions.

Initially the technology will be developed using barley plants as a model, but the algorithm would be generally applicable to other plants. The proposed system will allow more accurate phenotyping with increased resolution and significantly reduced labour costs. This technology will greatly accelerate and enhance breeding of improved crops with beneficial architectural and physiological traits.

Student: Shanzay Qamar

Industrial partner: Scotch WHisky Research Institute

Industry Supervisor: Nicholas Pitts

Academic partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic supervisors: Craig Simpson, Laurence Ducreux, Pete Hedley, Piers Hemsley

GE or precision breeding is a remarkable new tool that is fundamentally different from established conventional breeding and GM methods. Gene-editing edits the target gene directly and precisely within the genome of an elite crop line with no additional genetic material and no increase in gene number. A better understanding of gene editing tools is vitally important to support production of cereal yield, with fewer inputs in the face of a changing climate. This is a 4-year studentship that will allow you to explore and develop cutting-edge GE methods with the opportunity to adapt and develop your own methods of creating new edited changes. Changes will be made in barley that is relevant worldwide to food and drink security. GE is usually used to induce a gene mutation that knocks out the function of the targeted gene with the associated crop benefit. The aim of your studentship will be to select important gene targets, develop different GE methods and develop different methods of delivering the GE machinery to the plant cell allowing for the potential of GE to be fully realised. We have established genomic and transcriptomic datasets that will help select important gene targets.

Student: James Grieves

Industrial partner: Diageo

Industry supervisor: Katherine Smart

Academic partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic supervisors: Tracy Valentine and Davide Bulgarelli

Agriculture is under enormous pressure to increase crop yield and quality for food, feed and other products, while reducing its’ carbon footprint. The James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee offer a 4-year fully funded PhD studentship to determine barley traits adapted to sustainable crop production. This research project will be conducted in partnership with Diageo and will offer the opportunity to undertake an extra industrially relevant qualification, alongside valuable industrial experience during a hosted placement within a Technical Division of Diageo.  Barley is a critical crop for the brewing and distilling industry where Diageo is a leading player in the food & drinks sector.  Barley is also an important component of animal feed.

While high-yielding varieties selected to maximise their responses to non-renewable inputs, intense soil management and monoculture have guaranteed profitable yields over the past 60 years, it is now clear that their environmental impact will be unsustainable in 21st century agriculture. Conceptually novel varieties, tailored to the so called low-carbon agronomy are therefore needed to ensure global food security. Chief in achieving this ambitious objective will be identifying genetically determined traits, underpinning barley’s adaptation to the soil environment.  We hypothesis that root traits (e.g. architecture, hairs & exudates) are associated with adaptation to low carbon systems (e.g.no-tillage) and plants’ responses are integrally linked in a feedback loop to soil characteristics (e.g. microbiota) and soil resources  (e.g. nitrogen, soil carbon)

  Research will start with literature reviews (incl. meta-analysis), to extract barley genotypes and germplasm with differential responses to tillage in different soils, potential root traits of interest, soil impacts (inc. soil history, environment/climate etc.), and methodologies for rapid screens (Obj1).  Rapid variety screens will calibrate traits against key soil physical and health traits (e.g. structure, sand/loam composition, nutrient levels) using traditional and imaging technologies (Obj2). These will be followed by plot field trials under differential tillage conditions (Obj3). While, this project will focus on plant traits, soil health characteristics and soil structure will be investigated (e.g. via the Soil Health Card system, water, soil strength & structure, C & N ).  Genetic indicators of traits and effects on soil microbiome will be achieved through comparative genomics, metagenomic and transcriptomics profiles of adapted lines and rhizosphere where appropriate (Obj4).  

The outcome will be identification of barley traits associated with soil tillage adaptation and their impact on productivity and soil health under low carbon production agronomy which will be valuable for barley breeding and agronomic advice.

Student: Ruth Taylor

Industrial partner: Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS)

Industrial Supervisor: Jim Booth

Academic partner: University of DUndee

Academic Supervisor: Morris Altman

The focus of this project is researching the role agricultural co-ops (member-owned organizations) play in driving change in their networks with a focus on helping their farmer members address the climate challenge.  Education and effective knowledge transfer are a key pillar and one of the seven principles of co-operation in co-op enterprises. 

SAOS believe addressing the climate emergency is too large a challenge for any one business to tackle alone, especially SMEs. And that Scotland’s strong agricultural co-ops can be an effective solution to coordinating meaningful change whilst remaining competitive via highly effective co-op farmer member networks.

The co-op model presents a huge opportunity to support farmers address barriers such as limited time and capital, technical change, and information asymmetries. Action to deliver both economic and environmental gains become progressively more difficult as the industry advances through ‘easy wins’ and lower cost solutions. This highlights the value of a more collaborative approach between farmers, to support for example, the adoption and development of new technology or commitment to more capital-intensive investments.  Arguably one of the key roles co-ops provide is the leadership to facilitate and actualize change. For example, the investment by Aberdeen Grain in large-scale biomass driers to decarbon the drying of malting barley grain. 

That said, the co-op business model is not well understood in Scotland or the wider UK, despite their long history as a business model, founded in the principles of mutual support, democracy and shared economic benefits. Apart from the commercial returns from being a member, co-ops seek to build social capital and enhance skills that can be vital in building resilience and strengthening rural communities, whilst remaining competitive.  

Student: Emily Lyon

Industrial partner: Syngenta

Industry supervisor: Hazel Bull

Academic partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic supervisors: Luke Ramsay and Martin Balcerowicz

Due to climate change the variability in annual weather patterns is increasing.  In the 2020/21 growing season average UK spring temperatures were high, outside the 30-year range and in the 2021/22 harvest record summer temperatures were recorded. Climate models suggest these fluctuations and extremes are likely to continue and indeed worsen.  There is a clear impact of these environmental stresses on crop yield and yield components, but also on malting quality. Malting is an industrial process and relies on an intake of a uniform quality barley crop for efficient and homogenous processing. These fluctuations in climate present a significant challenge to the malting industry and the barley supply chain.  However, there is evidence that the malting quality of some barley varieties appears to be more robust to climate variation than others. This indicates that there is the opportunity to breed barley varieties that retain malting quality across a range of future climate scenarios. 

In this project we will investigate the impact of climate variation on malting quality by focussing on a range of barley germplasm that could provide the material to underpin the development of future breeding material to enhance resilience of malting quality to climatic variation.  This will involve detailed studies of the effect of environmental heat stress during plant and grain development on malting quality.  This project will use controlled environment and glasshouse work, and field trials in a combined physiological/genetic study to identify the traits that confer climatic robustness and the genetic variants that control them.  Importantly this investigation will dissect the effect on malting quality using the IBH micromalting lab on the JHI site. This malting work will focus on the known complex interactions of malting quality with environment and genetic background whilst concentrating on elite material with desirable malting quality.  This aspect of the project includes the opportunity for more detailed studies into the effect of climatic variables on deposition of starch and other polysaccharides in the grain, and the subsequent impact on malting quality.  The project benefits from the close collaboration of Syngenta and JHI, and will ultimately allow the identification of traits/alleles which could be introduced into future breeding material to enhance resilience of malting quality to climatic variation. 

Student: Qurat Ul Ain Ali Hira

Industrial Partner: MAGB

Industrial supervisor: Julian South

Academic Partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: David Boldrin, Kenneth Loades and Chrizelle Krynauw

Grain production faces significant challenges associated with soil degradation and an over reliance on the use of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilisers, of which prices have risen significantly in 2022 (+171% for ammonia nitrate). This poses a considerable challenge: how to maintain yields while simultaneously improving soil health and reducing the input of inorganic nitrogen. Therefore, a paradigm change, from outsourcing and high inputs to harnessing natural processes in farming systems is required.

Regenerative agriculture proposes to rebuild soil health, introducing “restorative crops” such as cover-crops, and resting the soil under pasture. However, the establishment of cover-crops after harvesting (small temporal-window) and their suppression before sowing are major challenges. In particular, the use of herbicide to clear cover-crops must be addressed in the light of environmental/health risks and potential future restrictions on their use. Similarly, mixed farming (soil recovery under pasture) limits grain production to few years in the rotation and contradicts the reduction-target in ruminants for climate mitigation.

To overcome the limitations of both conventional (high inputs) and regenerative (unproductive soil resting) agriculture, Restorative Continuous Grain Cropping (RCGC), based on under-sowing cereal crops with short herbaceous-legumes, has recently been proposed for cereal production (e.g., heritage wheat for distilleries). In RCGC, herbaceous-legumes understory has the potential to reduce the requirement of N-inputs and herbicide application by biological N-fixation and over-competing weeds, as well as to limit erosion by continuous soil cover. Moreover, it can be hypothesized that greater root density and diversity in RCGC may restore soil health and reduce the yield penalty in the transition to a no-tillage system (i.e., fast rebuilding of soil structure). Despite its potential to deliver sustainable cereal production, RCGC is based on complex and variable processes (e.g., inter-species facilitation/competition; soil-structure formation) and lack investigation. Working with controlled-environment and field experiments, this project aims to understand and quantify the benefits of RCGC and implement its design to improve the resilience and sustainability of barley crop production, as well as mitigate impacts of climate and environmental change. Different legumes (crops and native species) will be grown with different heritage and elite barley varieties of major interest for UK malting sector, to identify optimal companion-cropping systems. Furthermore, both soil and crop management will be evaluated (e.g., sowing time) to maximise benefits and minimise any negative interaction in companion cropping (e.g., barley-legume competition). Taking advantage on the diverse project team, including experts in soil scientists, plant physiology and microbiology, the project will embrace a holistic system approach and support student-development in different academic fields.

Student: Joshua Weblin

Industrial Partner: Molson Coors

Industrial supervisor: Simon Smith

Academic Partner: University of Nottingham

Academic Supervisors: John Foulkes and Guillermina Mendiondo

Barley is the single largest dry ingredient in brewing beer and malted barley has been widely recognized as the “soul of beer” for centuries.  Optimizing barley production and enhancing the production of tons of barley per hectare while increasing barley quality simultaneously are essential to developing the most sustainable barley supply chain globally.  Improving cultivars through breeding and genetics of barley along with improving farming practices and the use of nitrogen fertilizer have been the centre point of tripling barley yields over the last one hundred years.  Presently, nitrogen fertilizers contribute 50-70% of greenhouse gas emissions associated with barley production.  Identifying the impacts that new nitrogen fertilizers will have on barley yield and malt quality is essential to improving the N-use efficiency (NUE) of malting barley crops and hence the sustainability of a global barley supply.  Nitrogen is one of the single most important factors that determine barley protein levels which impact barley yield and malting traits such as malt extract, free amino nitrogen (FAN) and diastatic power (DP) affecting fermentability and production of alcohol.    Understanding how new compound nitrogen fertilizers (e.g. ammonium nitrate and sulphur; ammonium nitrate,  phosphate, potash and sulphur)  will impact the entire beer supply chain, as barley and malt, is critical to determine how these fertilizers can be used in barley production.  Additionally, inhibitors can be added to N-based fertilizer to reduce losses when the fertilizer has been applied to the crop. Nitrification inhibitors inhibit the biological oxidation of ammonium to nitrate. By extending the time the active nitrogen component of the fertilizer remains in the soil as ammonium-N, an inhibitor can improve NUE and reduce environmental emissions. Molson Coors directly purchases or relies on third parties to purchase barley and or malt for brewing in both the USA and UK.  Screening barley cultivars and evaluating the impacts of new nitrogen sources and nitrification inhibitors on the supply chain will help determine their feasibility for wide scale commercial use as well as reducing the environmental impacts of malting barley production. 

We hypothesise that barley cultivars will respond differently to these new and different nitrogen fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors and that the resulting malt will have end use quality differences and parameters and that a genetic by environment (treatment) interaction will be observed.  Our goal is to determine how these new nitrogen sources and inhibitors need to be used to develop best production practices and optimize barley yields, barley quality and malt quality which will improve barley production sustainability.    Field experiments will be conducted at the University of Nottingham farm, UK and Molson Coors field sites in U.S.A., Idaho and Colorado. The malting tests (malt extract, FAN and DP) will be conducted at the Molson Coors facility in U.S.A., Idaho at the Barley Research and Development Centre. In the trials physiological analysis will be carried out to understand how the biomass and grain dry matter partitioning is affected by the treatments.  N uptake will be determined through plant sampling and plant N analysis at critical growth stages through the season.  In addition, canopy photosynthetic traits underlying biomass will be quantified through multi-spectral reflectance measurements. Malting quality of grain samples will be assessed in all trials. Soil sampling will be conducted at each site to determine nutrient availability.  All trials will be produced with three replicates. From these data, we will understand the bases of the genotypes x N treatments interactions and identify target traits for improving NUE in spring malting barley for deployment in breeding programs.  Once the impact of new and more sustainable nitrogen sources and nitrification inhibitors can be determined for the barley supply chains in USA and UK Molson Coors staff will be able to evaluate the overall impact on carbon use and footprint impacting the agricultural supply chain.

Student: Ella Southin

Industrial Partner: Opportunity North East and SWRI

Industrial supervisor: Peter Cook

Academic Partner: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Sebastien Belanger and Sarah McKim

Control of pollen production is fundamental to develop hybrid seed programmes. Hybrid varieties are commercialised in the UK. These hybrids are six-row winter type lines for the livestock feed market, and thus are not aligned with the UK farmer preferences for two-row spring barley for malting. My lab proposes to follow a forward genetic approach to discover new genetic mechanisms that induce environmental sensitive genic male sterility (EGMS) when perturbed. The major deliverable would be developing genetic materials for hybrid seed production in two-row spring malting barley.

Forward genetic and map-based gene cloning uncovered multiple genes and molecular mechanisms controlling male sterility in rice, maize, and wheat. The James Hutton Institute holds a collection of ~100 male sterility barley mutants backcrossed to cultivar Bowman to generate a collection of Near Isogenic Lines (NILs). Among these, there are about 70 male-sterile lines that have been backcrossed for at least four generations. Other than reporting their recessive nature, these NILs remain mischaracterised. We don’t know: (i) the loci or genes controlling the male sterility phenotype, (ii) what triggers male sterility, or (iii) if environmental signals can restore the male fertility. My lab has started evaluating this population and validated the male sterility phenotype of all 70 NIL populations. These lines provide valuable resources to identify novel genes regulating male sterility, some of which are regulated by environmental conditions based on preliminary observations. The PhD project will characterise a subset of the Bowman male sterile NILs to identify novel genes regulating male sterility and develop genetic resources. The three objectives are: (i) to select a subset of 15 NILs and identify NILs exhibiting an EGMS phenotype, (ii) to identify when developmental defects occur in anther and to characterise what is cellular and subcellular anomalies among NILs exhibiting an EGMS phenotype, and (iii) to identify the genomic region associated with male sterility performing genetic mapping for gene cloning. This project will support the development of knowledge and skills of the PhD candidate on phenotyping, cutting-edge microscopy techniques and various kind molecular work. The preliminary data suggest all aims are achievable. Success in developing hybrid seed production could increase barley by at least 15%, representing an extra 1.0 and 13.4 million metric tons of barley, in the UK and in Europe, grown with the same inputs and footprint. Moreover, hybrids are known to increase crop resilience to stresses. Therefore, developing hybrids is both relevant and impactful to support the production of low input and climate resilient barley in Scotland, the UK, and globally.

Student: Vita Rakers

Industrial Partner: KWS Lochow

Industrial supervisor: Klaus Oldach

Academic Partner: University of Nottingham

Academic Supervisors: John Foulkes and Guillermina Mendiondo

While the use of exotic material can enhance biomass, special attention needs to be paid in the selection for novel DM partitioning traits that raise harvest index and grain number coming from the elite genepool. Stem-internode partitioning influences grain number traits, such as spike growth and spikelet abortion. Previous studies suggest that high expression in harvest index (HI; grain dry matter / above-ground dry matter) and grain number in cereals is associated with reduced partitioning to internode 2 (internode below peduncle) and internode 3.  However, how stem-internode partitioning interacts with grain number traits in barley is not fully understood.  Manipulating within-spike DM partitioning (glume, lemma, palea, rachis, awn) offers a complementary route to enhance HI through increased fruiting efficiency (grains per unit spike dry matter at anthesis), e.g. by reducing awn partitioning. The objective is to test for associations between these grain number traits and harvest index in high biomass backgrounds, and using SNP arrays and GWAS studies to generate Marker-Trait Associations (MTAs) and establish molecular markers for favourable traits to raise harvest index in high biomass backgrounds.

The plant material phenotyped will include elite UK and European spring malting barley cultivars and exotic barley germplasm (introgression lines with genetics from landraces or Hordeum spontaneum) and an elite GWAS nel from the KWS breeding programme. In years 1 and 2, a panel of elite cultivars and introgression lines will be phenotyped at Nottingham. Physiological analysis will be carried out to understand how the harvest index is explained by the stem-internode traits and spike morphological components determining spike growth and grain number. In addition, leaf and canopy photosynthetic traits underlying biomass will be quantified through multi and hyperspectral reflectance and leaf gas exchange. Malting quality (malt extract, free amino N, diastatic power etc) of grain samples will also be assessed. From these data, we will understand the bases of the improved yields and quantify associations with grain malting quality traits.

Priority target traits for harvest index in high biomass backgrounds will be identified for further genetic analysis. In year 3, a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) study will be carried out phenotyping target traits in a field experiment on a KWS spring malting barley panel utilizing a 20k  SNP array to identify MTAs. The most promising MTAs will then be used to search for candidate genes, for which molecular markers will be established for deployment in the KWS malting barley breeding program.

Student: Charlotte Grech

Industrial Partner: ABInBev

Industrial supervisor: Max Fraser

Academic Partners: University of Nottingham

Academic Supervisors: Guillermina Mendiondo, David Cook and John Foulkes

This project builds on prior collaboration and developed genetic resources to characterise the role of a key pathway of targeted proteolysis in the regulation of germination of barley grains during the malting process. We showed that reduced function of key components of this pathway is linked to plant tolerance to abiotic stress. Laboratory studies suggest that mutants in this pathway differ in their ‘water sensitivity’ which is a germination characteristic of significance to commercial malting which requires adapted malting conditions. This project is an amazing opportunity to do novel research in a multidisciplinary team working with AB InBev, the world’s largest brewing company and second largest malting company. There will be an opportunity to gain valuable industry experience during a placement within a Technical Division of AB InBev.  

The present work aims to understand how this pathway is involved in the control of germination and water sensitivity during malting. As an altered function of this pathway may affect several traits in the plant and the grain, the impacts on malting and malt quality must be studied in detail to understand the full impact of its manipulation. We aim to understand how the PRT6 N-Degron pathway participates during germination and how it is involved in the water sensitivity response through genetics, proteomic and grain physiology approaches. In earlier research, prt6 mutants were backcrossed into commercial barley lines (two prt6 alleles published and four alleles unpublished) and are currently being phenotyped and assessed for field performance. In addition, the mutant alleles have been introgressed into an AB InBev elite line (Voyager) such that we have two different genotype backgrounds in which to explore the performance of the mutations.

In Years 1 and 2, novel prt6 TILLING alleles will be characterized and evaluated in terms of grain germination performance in response to abiotic factors including water sensitivity. A panel of ten elite cultivars and landraces will be cultivated along with the prt6 TILLING alleles at a field site at Nottingham University (UoN). Germination tests will be carried out for all mutant lines under increasing concentration of the germination-regulating hormones abscisic acid and gibberellins using a high throughput germination assay. We will evaluate the water sensitivity and malting quality of genetic lines developed through the project. In years 2 and 3 genotypes or mutant lines which showed contrasting response to the water sensitivity assays will be used to identify the N-degron targets in cereals that are perturbed by the treatment using a proteomic approach.

Student: Ryan Douglas

Industrial Partner: Diageo

Industrial supervisor: Debbie Sparkes

Academic Partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Mike Rivington, Mohamed Jabolun and John Rowan

This project contributes to our understanding of barley growth, nitrogen use and leaching under future climate projections. You will join an internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary team at the James Hutton Institute (Rivington and Jabloun) and Dundee University (Rowan), by focussing on the relationships between barley productivity and nitrogen use under future climates. Climate change may lead to increased nitrate leaching, with consequences for aquatic systems. This is an opportunity to join a globally renowned Institute to help crop adaption to a warmer and more extreme climate whilst increasing productivity and protecting the environment by reducing nitrogen losses. The challenge is to reduce unnecessary N₂O emissions by using less fertiliser, a key part of mitigating climate change, whilst not diminishing crop productivity.

This research will help ensure nitrogen applications are tailored spatially and temporally to the needs of the crops. It will enable you to develop skills in conducting field trails, high-spatial and temporal resolution modelling and data integration, including the use of Earth Observations, to understand the role of climate variability and climate change for crop productivity, grain N and nitrate leaching from spring barley. The project will help assess areas of vulnerability to crop growth from climate impacts, such as drought and flooding, and opportunities for sustainable management practices. This project will be conducted in partnership with Diageo and will offer the opportunity to gain valuable industrial experience during a hosted placement within a Technical Division of the company, as well as undertaking an industrially relevant qualification.

Student: Benjamin Potts

Industrial partner: Tomatin

Industry Supervisor: Graham Eunson

Academic partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic supervisors: Rob Hancock, Kelly Houston and Sarah McKim

Atmospheric CO₂ concentration has risen from 280 ppm in the pre-industrial era to current levels of 420 ppm and is expected to rise to 550 – 950 ppm by 2100. CO₂ fertilisation effect will likely benefit yields of C3 crops such as barley due to reduced photorespiration. However, elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) has significant impacts on protein and mineral content with positive and negative impacts on quality aspects including malting, flour quality and nutritional quality. However, we presently lack a detailed understanding of how eCO₂ will impact the quality of barley cultivars adapted to the Scottish environment or of the genes and mechanisms underpinning quality traits under eCO₂.

The project will exploit the wide range of barley germplasm and genetics data available in the International Barley Hub (https://barleyhub.org/) combined with controlled environment growth and high-throughput phenotyping facilities in the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (www.apgc.org.uk) to identify genetic loci associated with improved yield and quality maintenance under eCO₂. Candidate genes will be tested using a range of mutants (either developed by the student using precision breeding techniques or identified by screening our mutant populations) and mechanisms explored using techniques such as infra-red gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging to understand how eCO₂ impacts the regulation of photosynthesis; and analytical techniques such as ICP/MS, GC/MS and LC/MS to understand how eCO₂ influences grain quality and crop metabolism.  The successful student will benefit additionally from training in high-throughput phenotyping, image analysis and data extraction, and statistical and molecular genetics.  Furthermore, the project is supported by the Tomatin distillery providing the successful candidate the opportunity to work closely with industry to ensure the relevance of research outputs and help support the continued sustainability of the Scottish whisky industry.

Student: Heather Gulbrandsen

Industrial partner: Glenmorangie

Industry supervisor: Gillian MacDonald

Academic partners: University of Dundee and James Hutton Institute

Academic supervisors: Martin Balcerowicz and Chiara Campoli

Rising temperatures brought about by climate change are major threat to agriculture and food security: in wheat and barley, each 1°C increase above optimal growth temperature is estimated to reduce yield by 5-6%. A detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which plants respond to high ambient temperature is thus vital to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on crop production.

PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) act as a key signalling hub for temperature responses in Arabidopsis (1). In the monocot crops maize and rice, these transcription factors regulate multiple aspects of vegetative and reproductive development and have been harnessed to improve grain size and yield under control conditions and abiotic stresses such as heat and drought (2). Putative PIF homologues are found in barley, but their relevance for growth and yield remains unknown. Taking advantage of existing transcriptomic datasets (3), we will explore how temperature affects transcription and alternative splicing of these genes and their respective transcripts. Employing transgenic approaches and newest gene editing techniques available through the James Hutton Biotechnology Facility, we will generate knock-out and overexpression lines for selected genes and analyse the consequences for (a) vegetative growth, (b) reproductive development and (c) grain quality and yield under control and stress conditions. This project will provide fundamental insight into temperature signalling processes in barley and has the clear potential to identify new breeding targets for the generation of “climate-ready” barley varieties.

• Balcerowicz, 2020, Physiol. Plant. 10.1111/ppl.13092
• Cordeiro et al., 2017, J. Exp. Bot. 10.1093/jxb/erac142
• Milne et al., 2021, Sci. Data. 10.1038/s41597-021-00872-4

Student: Klara Knutsson

Industrial partner: Diageo

Industrial Supervisor: Debbie Sparkes

Academic partner: University of Dundee and James Hutton Institute

Academic Supervisor: Sarah McKim, Chiara Campoli and Luke Ramsay

This project is based in the McKim and Campoli labs at the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute (JHI), a global leader in cereal genetics and genomics, and part of the International Barley Hub. We study barley to learn how to maintain cereal grain yields despite accelerating and more extreme temperature and drought events from climate change.

This PhD project will examine successful barley seed germination in the soil – the starting point of barley production. Seeding depth is critical because the seed should be deep enough to reach soil moisture but close enough to the surface to emerge quickly into the light. Key traits that influence seeding depth include the seedling crown, the main region of seedling growth which initiates the main root system under the shoot. The elongation of the stem or internode between the seed and the crown, the subcrown internode, determines the depth of the crown and crown roots. Barley with shorter subcrown internodes form deeper crowns is linked to protection from injury, in particular cold temperature damage in winter, and to increased grain yield. Despite the importance of subcrown internode elongation, we know little about its genetic control, in the UK.

In this project, you will study subcrown internode elongation in barley.  You will identify genetic variation which controls subcrown internode length and how environmental conditions change this trait, which has huge relevance for our changing climate. You will exploit valuable existing resources at the JHI and learn the latest genomic approaches and join a cohort of next-generation cereal scientists. Your industrial partner is Diageo, a global leader in premium products made from barley grain. This research project will be conducted in partnership with Diageo and will offer the opportunity to gain valuable industrial experience during a hosted placement within a Technical Division of the company, as well as undertaking an industrially relevant qualification.

Student: Zoe Marshall

Industrial partner: Bruichladdich

Industry supervisor: Allan Logan

Academic partners: James Hutton Institute and University of Dundee

Academic supervisors: Joanne Russell, Chiara Campoli, Tim George and Davide Bulgarelli

The value of landraces as a source of untapped genetic diversity for crop breeding is increasingly recognized. This is especially important in the context of climate change and the need to develop resilient and sustainable agronomic systems. Scottish Bere barleys are old landraces that have been grown on the islands and in the highlands of Scotland for centuries. Beres are well-adapted to short growing periods, to nutrient-deficient soils and marginal environmental conditions where modern cultivars fail. They require low fertilizer inputs, making them well-suited for low input agriculture. Interest in utilizing Beres for beer and whisky production has recently increased due to their distinct flavour profile and their marketability as sustainable local Scottish products. However, Beres are low-yielding and prone to lodging which makes harvest challenging. High N content and small grain size pose challenges for the malting process. Therefore, high-yielding genotypes with a combination of good agronomic properties and sufficient malting quality are desirable.

The James Hutton Institute maintains a collection of Beres from different geographic origins and biparental populations from crosses between Beres and elite cultivars. In this project, we aim to thoroughly characterize this material under different growing conditions (Western Isles, Orkney, Dundee) to identify genotypes with desirable traits, to allow genetic mapping of and marker development for these traits and to assess the stability of these traits under different conditions. Genotypes with beneficial traits can be used to a) introgress nutrient efficiency from Beres into elite germplasm and b) develop novel Bere types with improved traits. We propose to test these selected genotypes for trait stability under different climate change scenarios.

The Bruichladdich distillery on Islay has championed the use of Beres in terms of flavour, heritage and terroir. Despite initial setbacks with Bere cultivation on Islay, Bere grain has been sourced from Orkney, resulting in a series of popular Bruichladdich Bere Barley single malts. In 2018, Bruichladdich purchased the adjacent croft and since then have been preparing the ground to revisit the sowing of Beres. With both the collection of Beres as well as the novel introgression germplasm, field trials can be sown and scored for a range of agronomic and malting quality traits. The student will gain comprehensive experience in genetics, genomics and transcriptomics and will have the opportunity to develop the project according to their own skills and interests. Additionally, they will gain relevant insight into industry through our close collaboration with Bruichladdich.

Student: Le-ann Kasese

Industrial Partner: William Grant & Sons Distillers

Industrial supervisor: Jane Millar

Academic Partner: University of Dundee

Academic Supervisors: Claire Halpin and Didier Ndeh

Grains from cereal crops such as wheat and barley are widely used in the food and biotechnology industries for drink (beer, whisky and malt) and biofuel or bioethanol production.  As a result, millions of tons of these crops are produced yearly across the world with Europe producing over 60% of global barley yield. The industrial scale processing of barley generates a large amount of other potentially under-utilised co-products including straw (the dry stalks/stems of the cereal plant following the harvest of the grain), chaff (the grain husks) and distilling by-products. . Making industrial processes such as distilling truly carbon neutral will be assisted by recovering and using as much of the barley plant as possible, not just the grain. However, the exploitation of lignocellulosic biomass (straw, chaff) has been greatly hampered by the resistance of the straw cell wall to degradation, partly contributed by its high lignin content and its degree of cross-linking/interaction with other components of the cell wall.. This research aims to investigate different genetic varieties or cultivars of the barley plant to understand the impact of their genetic differences on barley cell wall integrity, structure and consequently chemical and microbial digestibility under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The goal is to identify genetic determinants that control important properties of the plant cell wall that could be exploited  to make industrial use easier. The project will also develop an in-house anaerobic model culture systems that mimic rumen or bioreactor microbial consortia to study anaerobic digestion of straw cell wall carbohydrates as well investigate the genetic and enzymatic basis of microbiota degradation of straw-derived lignocellulosic biomass. Residues could have further use as fertilizer contributing to a fully circular process. The project will be carried out in collaboration with our industrial partners William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd whom the candidate will also have the opportunity to interact with on practical level and hence also gain  both industrial experience alongside expertise on plant processing and genetic analyses, microbial culture, bioinformatics and genetics. These studies will ensure that we maximise the amount of value that can be derived from these important by products, minimise the waste generated and enhance the overall cost and carbon efficiency of barley processing.