CORACLE project fight against barley disease

The John Innes Centre (JIC) in Norfolk is heading a major national offensive against ramularia, a new emerging barley disease that has gripped areas of Europe.

The CORACLE project will pull together the efforts of leading plant scientists, breeders and industry to prevent the disease taking root in the UK, having already spread through northern Europe, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia, where it has caused substantial yield losses.

Ramularia leaf spot is a fungal disease of barley that has come to prominence in the last 10 years. It is a significant problem in Ireland and Scotland, and is spreading into England, with Norfolk seeing a major outbreak last year.

Taking an integrated approach, the scientists and companies working on CORACLE will attempt to reduce the severity of ramularia outbreaks in the field and stop the disease spreading in contaminated barley grain. In the longer term, the research will help plant breeders to produce barley varieties that are more resistant to ramularia.

As well as the JIC, CORACLE includes two other East of England BBSRC-backed organisations, the Babraham Institute in Cambridge and Hertfordshire-based Rothamsted Research.

The other partners are the Arable Group, the Scottish Agricultural College, the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), BASF, Bayer Crop Science, KWS UK, LS Plant Breeding, Masstock Arable, Nickerson-Advanta, Saaten Union, Sejet PLantforaedling, SW Seed and Syngenta Seeds.