Room: 1st Floor Environment Centre Wales building / Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Email: cbrewster@ceh.ac.uk

Phone: 01248 374536

Web: 

My NERC-funded research project investigated the effects of ozone on wheat and its wild relatives and in particular the effects on nitrogen dynamics. In phase 1 the different ozone sensitivity of wheat's wild relatives were assessed, with Aegilops tauschii found to be tolerant, and a potential source of ozone tolerance, whilst the Triticum species may be the origin of wheat's sensitivity. In phase 2, an assessment of ozone's effect on wheat yield was made using uCT scan technology to assess effects on grain formation within each spikelet, and the effects on individual grain morphology. In phase 3, an investigation was made into how ozone affects nitrogen storage and translocation between anthesis and harvest, and assessed levels of residual nitrogen in shoot, root and soil. Relative differences in ozone sensitivity of synthetic and elite lines were then set within this context, and recommendations made for future research and for the breeding of more ozone tolerant cultivars.