Rothamsted Research: Goals, Directions, Projects

Rothamsted is the largest research agricultural center in the UK and the oldest agricultural research station in the world. Having a 160-year history, Rothamsted has gained an international reputation as an advanced center for scientific support for sustainable land management and its impact on the environment. Rothamsted conducts a wide range of scientific research in the areas of genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, the study of soil processes at the ecosystem and landscape levels.

Main directions and activities

• evaluation of the effectiveness of the impact of agricultural activities on soil quality and crop yields;
• improving the biophysical approach to the assessment of soil resistance;
• assessment and prediction of direct emissions of greenhouse gases from agricultural soils;
• development of recommendations to reduce direct emissions of greenhouse gases from agricultural soils;
• improving the integrated system of agro-ecological soil monitoring;
• development of electronic databases of the agrophysical state of soils based on the results of monitoring their physical, physicochemical and biophysical properties.

Rothamsted laboratories

Laboratory of physics and physical chemistry of soil

In laboratory and field research, employees apply modern methods for measuring the hydrophysical functions of the soil, the physical and physicochemical properties of the soil, the physical and computer modelling of soil processes and remote optical sensing.

Important areas of research laboratory staff:

• application of the theory of similarity to the study and modelling of natural processes in soils;
• evaluation of the effectiveness of agricultural technologies for the sequestration of organic carbon in soils;
• research and modelling of hydrophysical functions in soils.

The staff of the laboratory carry out comprehensive studies of the agrophysical state of the soil and the level of nitrogen nutrition of plants using remote optical methods.

Laboratory of soil biophysics

The main research area of the laboratory is the assessment and monitoring of the direct emission of nitrous oxide from agricultural soils after mineral, organic and green fertilizers, the use of various systems of mechanical processing and grazing of animals.

Other areas of research work in the laboratory:

• development of recommendations to reduce the emission of nitrous oxide from the soil;
• the use of modern models to predict greenhouse gas emissions and the transformation of nitrogen compounds in soils;
• improving the biophysical approach to assessing the sustainability and quality of agricultural soils.

The laboratory has a modern set of equipment for measuring: direct emission of greenhouse gases from the soil surface and their concentrations in the genetic profile of the soil, temperature regime of the soil during the growing season, biophysical and biological properties of the soil.

Rothamsted Projects

2018-2022

• “The introduction of modern technology and scientific research in the field of agricultural production”
• Agreement on bilateral scientific and technical cooperation with the “Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences”
• Agreement on bilateral scientific and technical cooperation with LLP “Scientific and Production Center of the Grain Economy”
• “Flows of water, gases and energy in the soil-plant-atmosphere system in the north-western region of the country”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the University of Agriculture (Canada)
• International Nitrogen Management Initiative (INMS)
• Cooperation with scientific organizations and institutions from 30 countries, Center for Ecology & Hydrology (Edinburgh, United Kingdom)

2017-2021

• “Physiology, genetics, selection and precision farming”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection and the University of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova
• “Research and development of navigation systems and automated motion control of tractors and self-propelled robotic agricultural machines”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the National Research Center for Intellectual Equipment for Agriculture (Beijing, China)

2018-2020

• “Assessment of changes in the formation and emission of nitrous oxide from the arable land of the boreal zone in a changing climate”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the Agricultural Institute, Center for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• “Study of biochemical characteristics of the quality of cultivated plants for the molecular genetic analysis of their genomes”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the State University of Canada

2014-2016

• “Agricultural use and soil remediation: impacts on soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the Slovak University of Agriculture
• “Sound resource management: improving the quality of agricultural soils”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences

2014-2015

• “Experimental and model studies of efficient and resource-saving land use and crop rotation of energy crops for different soil and climatic conditions, taking into account global climate change”
• The program of cooperation with the Institute for Landscape Analysis, Center for Agroland Landscape and Land Use (Müncheberg, Germany)

2013-2016

• “Greenhouse gas flows in Germany after introducing biochar to the soil”
• Agreement on scientific cooperation with the Institute of Agricultural Engineering (Potsdam, Germany)

2012-2015

• Participation in the workgroup on reactive nitrogen

2012-2016

• “The use of bio-coal in the system of rational management of natural resources”
• International European project COST Action TD 1107
• November 5-7, 2014 – Participation in a scientific meeting of working groups of the action TD 1107 in the European COST program in Edinburgh
• The meeting discussed the state of the database on the results of field and laboratory experiments with biochar in Europe

2012-2013

• “Experimental and model-theoretical analysis of the functional properties of alternative energy crops, taking into account different soil and climatic conditions as the basis for the cultivation of energy crops”
• Cooperation with the Institute of Landscape Systems Analysis, Center for Agroland Landscape Research and Land Use (Müncheberg, Germany)
• “Investigation of the physical properties of plant materials in terms of food quality and the environment”
• Cooperation with the Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
• Cooperation with the Institute of Technology and Natural Sciences in Falenta, Kujawsko-Pomorski Research Center in Bydgoszcz (Poland)

2009-2011

• “Creation and development of new production technologies based on deep processing of peat, sapropel and other types of mineral resources”
• Cooperation with the Institute for Nature Management of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

2008-2010

• “The study of the impact of soil treatment and fertilization systems on soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions”
• Cooperation with the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary)
• “Soil Greenhouse Gases Budget in a Changing Climate and Land Use Change”
• International European project COST 639

2007-2009

• “Adaptation of agriculture in regions exposed to environmental risk in a changing climate”
• International European project ADAGIO (Framework Program 6)
• “Studies of greenhouse gas emissions and the microbiological state of the soil in the agroecosystems of Poland and Russia”
• Cooperation with the Institute for Land Reclamation and Grassland Falenta, the West-Merans Research Center in Szczecin (Poland)

2006-2008

• “Modeling of greenhouse gas emissions in agroecosystems”
• Cooperation with the Earth, Ocean and Space Research Institute, University of New Hampshire (USA)

2007-2008

• “Information technology and modelling techniques in precision agriculture”

2007

• “Effect of Pythium aphanidermatum on photosynthesis and transpiration of cucumber plants in greenhouse conditions”

2004-2006

• “Soil Management in Modern Agriculture”
• Cooperation with the Institute of Rothamsted Station (Harpenden, UK)

2003-2005

• “Precision Farming”
• “Physical properties of agricultural raw materials and plant products”
• Cooperation with the Czech University of Agriculture (Prague, Czech Republic)