News and Events

25 January 2018

Take home messages:

• Soil compaction is major issue for modern agriculture.
• This can influence soil physical and chemical characteristics and can affect soil-based processes.
• Compacted soil is economically damaging to farm business efficiency, as it results...

Take home messages:

• Increasing the amount of species in UK grasslands can offer benefits in terms of production, whilst reducing environmental impact.
• Diverse grassland swards can enhance agro-ecosystem biodiversity and increase soil health and function.
• This approach could reduce necessary...

Dr William Stiles: IBERS, Aberystwyth University.

Take home messages:

• Tillage creates significant disturbance to soil, which can have a negative influence on soil biology and soil organic matter levels.
• This can adversely affect soil health and function.
• Adopting no-till systems...

Poultry manure management

Take home messages:

• Poultry manure is rich in nutrients making it an effective fertiliser.
• Initial composting can improve the nutrient composition of this material.
• Guidance should be sought from the APHA before moving it between farms...

Take home messages:

• Increasing the presence of trees in crop or grass systems can offer multiple benefits in terms of agricultural production.
• Agroforestry practices are simple to instigate and can make farmland production more stable in the long term.
• This...

Dr Ruth Wonfor: IBERS, Aberystwyth University  

Take home messages:

• A feed efficient animal will eat less whilst maintaining production and health and emitting less methane.
• Feed efficiency in ruminants is linked to the microbial population in the rumen...

Take home messages:

• Climate change offers an enormous challenge to UK agricultural systems
• Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, but could also offer opportunities to reduce the impact of climate change.
• Modifying current agricultural practice to mitigate...

Dr William Stiles: IBERS, Aberystwyth University.

Take home messages:

• Climate change will have strong effects on pastoral production in the UK.
• Implementing management approaches to allow these systems to adapt to this future environmental change is essential.
• This will...

Dr William Stiles: IBERS, Aberystwyth University.

Take home messages:

• Increasing grassland plant species richness can increase farmland biodiversity and offer suitable yield levels for grazing animals or hay production.
• Reducing grassland management intensity can limit carbon loss from soil and...

By, Dr. Ruth Wonfor, IBERS, Aberystwyth University

Researchers at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University have recently led a European collaborative review summarising present research in mathematical modelling of European ruminant production under climate change. The...