York has won a Strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grant awarded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to fund research investigating the potential of viable co-products from oilseed rape.

This project, lead by Professor Ian Bancroft, is studying potentially valuable co-products that might be extracted from oil seed rape, as well as the primary oil product, a protein-rich feed for animals that is already exploited as a co-product. The research will involve the study of new potential co-products including vitamin E (tocopherol) and cholesterol lowering compounds (phytosterols) from the oil, as well as waxes from pod walls with aphid-repellent or medical properties, and other valuable compounds from stems, all with consideration given to reducing fertilizer inputs. 

A group led by Professor Rob Edwards also recieved LOLA funding for Brassica-related research. This programme will focus on ways of combating herbicide-resistant black-grass which causes serious problems in cereal and oilseed rape rotations. Control is becoming difficult, because black-grass can acquire an overarching mechanism that makes it resistant to all weed killers, and it is estimated that some 1.2 million ha of UK land is already infested with resistant black-grass. The BBSRC-HGCA Black-Grass Project will focus on understanding how multiple herbicide resistance arises and identifying ways in which it can be tackled in the wider environment.

For more information on the sLOLA grants and other funded research programmes, see: http://ht.ly/rFw3Z