Rothamsted International

Rothamsted Experimental Station in England, since its foundation in 1843, has established an international reputation that is built on many important contributions to UK and world agriculture. In particular, Rothamsted is renowned for its pioneering work on crop nutrition and fertilizers, and for its studies on the synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, pesticide resistance and statistics. These research activities, and others, all have an international dimension. It was fitting therefore for the Station to celebrate its 150th Anniversary in 1993 by launching Rothamsted International. This major initiative was originally conceived as a means of making Rothamsted's expertise and facilities more widely accessible to scientists overseas, particularly in developing countries. Rothamsted International aims to foster collaborative research programmes with national and international centres in developing countries and to offer Fellowships to visiting overseas researchers, thereby helping to secure two-way institutional links and information exchange. So far, 17 Fellowships have been awarded. Rothamsted is well-placed to contribute to sustainable agricultural development. It has a long-standing interest in the chemical and biological processes that influence soil fertility, and has major programmes on the cycling of nitrogen and carbon in soils, and on the movement and fate of agrochemicals. The results obtained from both its long-term 'Classical' field experiments and computer simulation models are applicable to tropical and temperate agriculture. A very practical outcome of research has been the commercial development of Rhizobium inoculants for legume seed. The Tropical Virus Unit has a wealth of information on viruses in tropical and subtropical crops, including black pepper, sugar cane, cassava and water melon, and currently, this Unit is investigating lethal yellowing of coconuts (African and Caribbean) and bacterial wilt caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum. Rothamsted also collaborates closely with CAB International's Institute of Parasitology and their combined collection of live temperate, tropical and sub-tropical nematode cultures is the largest in the world. An ODA-funded Biometrics Unit advises on statistical problems associated with crop, agro-forestry and animal experimentation, and also provides training on statistics and computing. Professor J M Anderson Chief Executive, Rothamsted International Rothamsted Experimental Station A F R C Institute of Arable Crops Research Harpenden Herts Al5 2JO UKRothamsted Experimental Station in England, since its foundation in 1843, has established an international reputation that is built on many important contributions to UK and world agriculture. In particular, Rothamsted is renowned for its pioneering..