Go to seed

Lancaster University researchers have discovered a potential new way of making crops resilient to pests.

It has long been understood that by spraying crops with Jasmonic acid (JA), plants stand a better chance of repelling pests such as mites, caterpillars and aphids - however, sprayed plants grow less well.

But scientists working at Lancaster University's Environment Centre have found that plants grown from seeds first dipped in JA are also more pest-resilient without any loss of growth.

This would be financially beneficial for farmers and growers as seeds are cheaper to treat than entire crops. It is another tool for growers to use as an alternative to using large amounts of pesticides or GM technologies.

In early trials at Lancaster University, the best results were on tomato plants, where attacks by Red Spider Mites were reduced by 80 per cent, aphid attack was reduced by 60 per cent and caterpillar damage was down by a third.