BPI.VISQUEEN BACKS UV RESEARCH PROJECT

As part of its ongoing product development programme bpi.visqueen recently sponsored Dr Eslam Elfadly’s PhD research project ‘Exploiting plant responses to solar UV radiation in improved protecting cropping systems’. Working in partnership with the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Arid Agritec (who specialise in protected crop production in arid climates) this project examined how crop responses to UV light can improve the production of vegetable seedlings during the propagation phase in both temperate and hot climates and how the benefits of exposure to UV light at this early growth stage can lead to improved long-term crop performance.

Previous research by Lancaster University and Arid Agritec has shown that plants respond to UV light through a diverse range of changes in morphology and chemistry and that such responses have wide-ranging consequences for the plant itself and for other organisms interacting with plants, such as pests and disease pathogens. In recent years significant progress has been made in exploiting these UV light responses using plastic films from bpi.visqueen that were designed with specific UV light transmission properties. 

Dr Elfadly’s work focussed on using UV light responses to improve the production of vegetable seedlings during the propagation phase.  In many commercial crop production systems, seedlings are produced in a specific protective propagation environment before being moved at an appropriate growth stage to the cropping environment, be it an open field environment or a different protected area. 

Dr Elfadly’s work has shown that propagation under plastic films that are transparent to UV light results in plant changes such as notably reduced leaf expansion, increased leaf thickness and increased pigmentation. Whilst these changes are consistent with previous research into how UV light affects plants this project went on to show that these physical changes result in improved long-term crop performance in terms of plant growth and yield. 

The crops studied in this project were lettuce (Lactuca sativa) - grown in the UK and in Egypt and bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) grown in Egypt. In both cases and in both countries the findings confirmed that propagation under a UV transparent film is beneficial.  In pepper, propagation under a UV transparent film before transfer to a standard commercial cropping environment resulted in improved fruit yield. This raises fundamental questions regarding the mechanisms by which exposure to UV light during the initial propagation phase can bring about changes that persist many weeks afterwards through to cropping. 

Dr Elfadly and the teams at Lancaster University and Arid Agritec investigated these mechanisms in controlled environment experiments mimicking commercial practice by growing seedlings under one UV environment, and then transferring them to a contrasting UV environment. They found that pepper shows rather unexpected responses to transient exposure to UV light in terms of plant cell division and expansion and that these responses have long term consequences for leaf expansion and growth.

Reflecting the interest in his findings, Dr Elfadly was invited to present his PhD work on the benefits of UV transparent horticultural films at the Congress of the European Society for Photobiology in Geneva last September.

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Images & captions:   Dr Eslam Elfadly.jpg; The science of success. Leading manufacturer of horticultural films, bpi.visqueen has sponsored a research by Dr Eslam Elfadly into how exposure to UV light at an early growth stage can lead to improved long-term crop performance.

For more information please contact Wayne Mohammed or Emma Macey at PRECISION on 0161 638 8714 or email: wayne@precision-online.co.uk or emma@precision-online.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

• British Polythene Industries (BPI) plc is a European leader in the manufacture of polythene film products and a leading global supplier of agricultural and horticultural films.

• bpi.visqueen, a division of British Polythene Industries, operates from a network of sites across the UK, including production facilities in Ardeer, Greenock and Swansea.

• bpi.visqueen’s extensive product portfolio includes heavy-duty sacks, pallet protection products and speciality wide width films. These products are employed by some of Europe’s biggest names in agriculture, horticulture, pharmaceutical and industrial applications.

• bpi.visqueen complements its broad range of products with high quality flexographic printing capabilities, advanced conversion processes and in-depth technical experience to deliver leading-edge film solutions/formats.

• As a result of its commitment to operating in a sustainable way and to minimising the environmental impact of all of its activities, BPI won the Best Green Large Company category at the 2010 Scottish Green Awards.

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