NEWS India-UK
Newton-Bhabha Virtual Centre on Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole-cropping Systems for improved performance and resilience in agriculture
Joint VJC Meeting - 3-5 October, 2017, New Delhi
At the beginning of 2016, BBSRC and DBT established four virtual joint centres (VJCs) on agricultural nitrogen between India and the UK. We have initiated to organise a conference and workshop for all four centres on the topic "Challenges and opportunities for agricultural nitrogen in India".
2nd NEWS India-UK Workshop - 25-26th February, 2017
The 2nd NEWS India-UK Workshop was held between 25-26th February, 2017, in the IARI complex, New Delhi India. It became clear from the overviews of the two directors of the project, Mark Sutton and N. Raghuram that the NEWS virtual centre made a strong early start.

Welcome to NEWS India-UK!

NEWS India-UK (Newton-Bhabha Virtual Centre on Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole-cropping Systems for improved performance and resilience in agriculture) has been established to promote cooperation between India and the UK to develop innovative ways to improve agricultural nitrogen management, allowing increased and more resilient food production in India while also reducing nitrogen losses to the environment.

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Joint VJC Meeting:
Challenges and opportunities for agricultural nitrogen
in India

Latest Updates

Inception meeting of the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub

NEWS India-UK pioneered a cooperation between leading research institutes in India and the UK. This cooperation is now being extended to South Asia with a wider range of challenges under a new nexus, the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub.

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Overview of the NEWS India-UK Fellowship

In September 2018, the last NEWS India-UK fellowship ended, concluding a successful capacity-building activity within the virtual centre...

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Sir Mark Walport's visit at IPU

During his visit at IPU, Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of the newly formed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) took great interest in the ongoing work of the NEWS India-UK.

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Centre Description

The NEWS India-UK Virtual Joint Centre builds on existing global leadership by UK and Indian nitrogen (N) researchers to develop and test innovative approaches that optimize N management and help food security goals to be met while also reducing multiple environmental threats. The acronym "NEWS" stands for “Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole cropping Systems”, reflecting the need for both increased efficiency of N uptake and better planning of the whole crop rotation. However, NEWS India-UK also takes two important further steps. Firstly, it applies the outcomes of biological and agronomic advances in N use efficiency (NUE) at the farm scale. Secondly, it scales up the outcomes to the national scale.

Analysis of natural genetic variation, together with the opportunity that can be provided by Genetic Modification (GM) techniques, will support process studies on improving plant level NUE. At the field scale, the project will quantify full N budgets, measure all major N emissions to the air and water and demonstrate how NUE improvements translate into reduced N pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The field scale will also bring together the options to see how a combination of genetic and agronomic improvements can maximize net benefits of better N management for higher productivity and climate resilience. The experimental datasets will then be applied, with support of case studies, to assess the farm scale NUE, using mathematical models to bring information together. Simple tools will be developed to support small-holder farmers in better decision making with respect to N use.

Finally, the national-scale work will use models to scale up field and farm scale results. This will use available national data on Indian agriculture, together with expert understanding, to develop country-level estimates and provide a forward look.

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