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

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The need to optimize agricultural nitrogen (N) use is fast emerging as a key global challenge where international cooperation can play a transformational role. The NEWS India-UK Virtual Joint Centre builds on existing global leadership by UK and Indian N researchers to develop and test innovative approaches to optimize N management that help meeting food security goals while reducing multiple environmental threats. The NEWS India-UK reflects the need to apply the full array of N management opportunities through bi-lateral cooperation between India and UK. This includes improving both crop biological nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), using improved genetic material to help biochemical processes be more efficient and agronomic NUE, which considers the amount of N reaching harvested products compared with N inputs, which can be improved by better field and fertilizer management practices. "NEWS" stands for Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole cropping Systems, reflecting the need for both these strategies if the full benefits are to be achieved. However, NEWS India-UK also takes two important further steps. Firstly, it applies the outcomes of biological and agronomic NUE advances at the farm scale. Critical here is the need to recycle all available N sources (such as manures, crop residues, atmospheric inputs and biological nitrogen fixation) and to examine the barriers that limit adoption of available methods at the farm scale. Secondly, it scales up the outcomes to the national scale. By focusing on establishing a full agricultural nitrogen budget for India, the approach will point to the major opportunities for improvement. This will integrate the plant and agronomic NUE strategies, farm scale options and national strategies (including from N policies, spatial optimization etc) that could be used to improve N management at a national level, giving clear estimates of the overall benefits. This will enable forward looks or 'scenarios' that explore 'what if' situations of how N could be managed better in the future and how it could contribute to food and energy security, improve agricultural resilience to climate change and reduce effects of water, air and soil pollution. Virtual Centre deliberately combines scientific disciplines to cross-fertilize ideas and develop more joined-up solutions. 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 nitrogen budgets, measure all major N emissions to the air and water and demonstrate how NUE improvements translate into reduced N pollution and greenhouse gas emission. 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 nitrogen management for higher productivity and climate resilience. The experimental datasets will then be applied, with support of case studies, to assess the farm scale, with mathematical models used to bring information together and to consider simple tools that can support small-holder farmers for better decision making. Finally, the national-scale work is also addressed by using models, where available statistical information for Indian agriculture is brought together with the expert understanding to develop country-level estimates and the forward look. The work of the NEWS India-UK virtual centre is organized around 5 science components: C1: Plant strategies, genetics and improving plant NUE; C2: Agronomic strategies to improving field-level NUE; C3: Farm scale nitrogen strategies, maximizing the value of all N sources; C4: National scale nitrogen strategies and scientific synthesis; and finally, C5: Capacity Building, Training and Dissemination, which links across the Virtual Centre to strengthen the research integration and build the basis for durable India-UK cooperation.