Submitted by Sarah Bailey on Mon, 31/08/2020 - 15:29
Lockdown has stopped much research, not just for TIGR2ESS, but across the world. However, some of our researchers have been fortunate enough to continue their work. Here, Rob Jackson (NIAB, Cambridge) and Himanshu Sharma (Punjab Agricultural University) from Flagship Project 3, describe how lockdown has affected their research.
What is Flagship Project 3?
With COVID-19 dominating every aspect of our day to day lives, it’s sometimes easy to forget the problems humanity will face once we return to the “new normal”. For those of us working in agricultural research, the problem that has provided the low hum of menace throughout our careers is food security. We know we’ll need to provide more food to feed the world’s ever-increasing population, with a changing climate and less agricultural land. Above all, we’ll need to do all this sustainably. The reality is, without enough food, all other issues become moot.
The primary focus of FP3 is to sustainably future-proof wheat yields, both in the UK and India, to be resilient to heat- and drought-stress. This is being achieved with work at three institutes:
- At NIAB (UK) a panel of experimental wheat lines are being trialled under field drought and greenhouse conditions to identify genetic and physiological controllers that can be combined to infer drought resistance.
- At Rothamsted (UK) wheat lines are being grown in controlled environments under heat stress to identify the effect of heat on important wheat developmental processes.
- Punjab Agricultural University (PAU, India) are selecting wheat breeding lines with adaptations to Indian heat- and drought-stress under lab and field conditions.
This work is particularly important for Indian food security where heat and drought can have serious effects on yield and the need to irrigate is depleting the water table. Even in the UK, which has rarely irrigated its wheat, dry fields are having a serious impact on agriculture. Just ask any farmer about their yields in 2020.
COVID-19’s initial impact on research
The emergence of COVID-19 and the March lockdowns seen in India and the UK had varied effects on FP3 work.
Himanshu at PAU (India)
In the Punjab a severe and sudden lockdown was imposed on March 22nd requiring researchers like me had to stay at home. Unfortunately, this coincided with an essential period of crop growth meaning important data and samples could not be collected from the field. The lockdown also caused disruption with the final irrigation before harvest which could have had a serious effect on our yield results. About 30 days after lockdown started in India the government provided travel passes to essential workers, including agricultural researchers. This allowed me to resume field work just before harvest so that I could collect important pre-harvest data and prepare for harvest.
Rob at NIAB (UK)
In the UK, the wheat crop was also entering a period of growth that required extensive data collection as lockdown began. Thankfully, restrictions were less stringent than in India and had little impact on my work. That’s why from May to August, with most of the UK stuck at home, I was assessing how 21 wheat varieties performed under “normal” and drought conditions in the field.
Depending on how the different wheat varieties perform under drought we can identify the key genetic and physical components that allow them to cope with drought stress. This information can be fed into wheat breeding programmes in the UK and India where it will ultimately lead to new drought tolerant varieties being developed.
Rain, rain go away
One similarity between PAU and NIAB was raining arriving just prior to harvest.
Himanshu at PAU
As we were getting back to a form of normal and preparing for harvest at PAU the weather turned, adding to what was already a difficult year. Rain and winds knocked the wheat over, making it more difficult to harvest. Thankfully, as lockdown eased, staff were available to help manage field work including, data collection and hand harvesting. This mitigated the effects of the rain, ensuring we could still collect the valuable trial data.
Rob at NIAB
At NIAB the rains also came just before harvest. Unlike at PAU they were never heavy, just persistent, so they didn’t knock the wheat over. The biggest issue they presented was preventing work as note paper and electrical equipment don’t like getting too wet.
Working from home
Communication between the FP3 partners at PAU, NIAB and Rothamsted is an essential part of the project. Counterintuitively, even though this has always happened virtually, online meetings between FP3 partners during lockdown has been difficult, with many people working from home. Limited internet access, childcare responsibilities and the need to prioritise ongoing experiments when lab access is eventually granted has also impacted on communication.
Himanshu at PAU
During lockdown the PAU offices were completely closed until June due to the severity of COVID-19 in the state, causing issues as field data was held on office computers. As a large group working on FP3 in PAU and it is necessary for us to maintain regular communication to plan work. When it became apparent these couldn’t happen in person anymore regular phone or Skype meetings were set up to help us plan the work that needed to be achieved once travel passes had been granted by the government.
Rob at NIAB
One thing that has changed at NIAB is that we’re working from home a lot more. As I’m usually not in the office that much during summer this hasn’t been a huge change for me. Working from home can be more productive as I have fewer distractions. Even meetings have become easier. Now we don’t all need to be in the same room, you can pause work and call in from the field or lab. Despite all this, I do miss the camaraderie of my co-workers.
Going forward
Whilst there’s still uncertainty over future lockdown measures, it’s essential we safely continue with our work on food security and sustainability within TIGR2ESS and other projects as it will be a mounting issue over the next 30 years.