The UK Crop Microbiome Cryobank

This project will provide a unique, exploitable, and integrated CryoBank that is driven by the needs of the Agritech sector (academic and commercial) to convert the huge potential from the relatively under researched Crop Microbiome into utilisable outputs to underpin UK research activity, in line with the BBSRC strategic priorities in agriculture and food security enabling the development of solutions to improve soil and crop health. A key objective is to provide the biological materials and bioinformatic tools to assist the development of discovery pipelines and the facilitation of economical production methods. Outputs from the project will have implications for plant health globally, and will support three of the UN’s Sustainable-Development Goals: Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption, and Production and Life on Land. The focus is on the microbiomes of major UK crops from 3 different soil types obtained from across the UK. The collaborative project involves partners from CAB International, Rothamsted Research, John Innes Centre, James Hutton Institute and SRUC.