Newton-Bhabha Virtual Centre on Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole-cropping Systems for improved performance and resilience in agriculture (NEWS India-UK)

M.A. Sutton1, J. Drewer1, N. Raghuram2, D. Kumar3, A. Price4, J.U. Smith4, A. Bhatia3, D. Reay5, D. Subrahmanyam6, A. Ahmad7, U. Skiba1, U. Dragosits1, M. Vieno1, W.J. Bealey1, E. Carnell1, E. Roberts1, A. Stott8, S. Sohi5, A. Moring5, J. Hillier4, D.R. Nayak4, R. Prasana3, R. Singh3, C.N. Neeraja6, S.R. Voleti6, R.M. Kumar6, K. Surekha6, S. Hooda2, R. Babu6, N. Jain3, P. Pandey3, B. Ramakrishnan3, N. das Saha3, H. Pathak3

1 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Edinburgh Research Station, Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0QB, Scotland, UK, www.ceh.ac.uk, juew@ceh.ac.uk

2 School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Sector 16C, Dwarka, New Delhi-110078, India

3 ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

4 University of Aberdeen, School of Biological Science, Rm G43 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, Scotland, UK

5 University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences, High School Yards, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, Scotland, UK

6 ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, India

7 Department of Botany Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002, UP, India

8 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, UK

Abstract

NEWS India UK (Newton-Bhabha Virtual Centre on Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole-cropping Systems for improved performance and resilience in agriculture) is established to promote cooperation between the two countries that demonstrates innovative ways to improve agricultural nitrogen management, allowing increased and more resilient food production in India while reducing nitrogen losses to the environment. Here we present the structure of the Virtual Joint Centre including strategic and scientific goals and objectives as well as the activities planned to achieve these.