Published date: 10 June 2019

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 15 March 2019

Contract summary

Industry

  • Research services - 73110000

Location of contract

DD2 5DA

Value of contract

£59,861

Procurement reference

tender_198911/775388

Published date

10 June 2019

Closing date

15 March 2019

Contract start date

15 April 2019

Contract end date

14 April 2022

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The EU produces ~40% of the world's barley (~60 MT/year). The farming and industrial sector relying on that is at risk from climate change, disease shifts, future resource limitations, but must increase yield to match demand and meet SDGs. Improving the genetic potential of the seed through breeding is the most efficient and sustainable way to reach these goals.

The development of novel cultivars carrying sustainability-related traits, which include resistance to pathogens, increased nutrient and water use efficiency, adaptation to elevated CO2, and a plant life-cycle resilient to future climatic conditions, will be based on identification, understanding, and use of genetic variation, complemented by new insights from modelling. The development of germplasm, strategies, and toolkits to efficiently incorporate sustainability-related traits into new cultivars are key components of a secure future agriculture.

BARISTA focuses on the traits relevant for sustainable barley production and resilience under current and future environmental challenges: water use efficiency; response to water scarcity or waterlogging; resistance to biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens; phenological adaptation and regulation of flowering time; culm architecture and lodging resistance; response to increased levels of atmospheric CO2, response to reduced nitrogen fertilizer input.

The project aims at identifying the physiological and genetic bases of these traits by making the best use of extensive phenotypic and genotypic data already available or collected here. Application of these findings will be driven by modelling tools including genomic prediction (GP), crop simulation models (CSMs) and integrated GP-CSM strategies through the improvement of current predictive breeding tools for barley, providing breeders with an innovative and efficient toolkit to increase the sustainability and resilience of barley in the face of biotic and abiotic challenges of climate change to help meet the SDGs.

More information

Attachments

Additional text

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Award information

Awarded date

17 May 2019

Contract start date

15 April 2019

Contract end date

14 April 2022

Total value of contract

£59,861

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

The James Hutton Institute

Address

Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA

Reference

Companies House number: SC374831

Supplier is SME?

No

Supplier is VCSE?

No

About the buyer

Address

Defra
London
SW1P 3JR
England

Email

network.procurement@defra.gov.uk