Fungicide Performance on wheat, barley and oilseed rape (Research Call)

Project Overview

AHDB’s Fungicide Performance data on wheat, barley and oilseed rape is highly valued by levy payers and advisors, being a primary source of information when choosing fungicides. High quality, independent information on the efficacy of both new and established ‘standard’ fungicides is vital for growers to make informed spraying decisions.

A budget of £822,737 has been set aside to cover the project for two cropping years (beginning June 2025 to end March 2028). There is an option to extend annually up to a further three cropping years. Thus, duration of this contract will be from June 2025 to 31 March 2028 with the option to extend each June for up to three successive extensions. Each annual extension will be agreed in June.

Established protocols developed in the current project will form the basis of the continuing work to ensure a consistent data set (see Appendix 1). Target diseases may change during the period of the project in response to changes in disease importance. However, the number of inoculated trials will not change.

The successful applicant must be able to offer flexibility and make a significant contribution to the on-going development of the project and must be able to demonstrate up to date and relevant knowledge of plant pathological methods, fungicide developments and on farm disease management in their proposal. Protocols may be updated in consultation between AHDB and the successful applicant where appropriate.

 A critical element of the project is the applicant's ability to validate and interpret trial results, identifying trends in product performance over several years, especially in response to shifts in pathogen sensitivity. The successful applicant will be required to validate each assessment with AHDB before review at an autumn meeting. The successful applicant must demonstrate expertise in plant pathology and trialling to a high standard. Evidence of this expertise must be provided as part of the tender.

 As well as conducting trials and interpreting the results the successful applicant will be required to undertake a range of knowledge transfer activities, including platform presentations, field demonstrations and liaison with agrochemical manufacturers.

 A further critical element of the project is the collaboration with agrochemical companies supplying fungicides to the arable sector in the UK. They supply unregistered products currently under development in anticipation of product registration, in order that a robust set of data is available on product performance at the point of registration. Confidentiality is therefore an important part of the project management. The current project Ground Rules can be found as Appendix 2, but these may be subject to change in consultation with the successful applicant before the project commences. The confirmed mandatory ground rules will form part of the final contract.

In addition, there is a critical time element to the project, both in terms of trial management and delivery of Knowledge Transfer (KT). Tenderers must demonstrate that they have the resources and experience to deliver the project, including KT requirements, in a timely manner in their proposal.

The successful applicant must ensure that levy payers and stakeholders recognise how AHDB funding and support has contributed to project outcomes. 

Project management

The project will be managed by a committee comprising representatives of the successful applicant, AHDB staff and other suitably qualified individuals (determined by AHDB) to be known as the Fungicide Working Group (FWG). The successful tenderer must appoint study director(s) for the day-to-day management of the project and must provide evidence in their proposal that these individuals have experience in managing agrochemical trials. The FWG will meet twice annually, in autumn (Oct/Nov) to review data and in winter (Jan/Feb) for planning. Other meetings between AHDB and the study director(s) or other appropriate persons may be required for additional planning connected with oilseed rape (OSR) trials (one meeting in the autumn), finalising product lists for cereals trials (one meeting) and for data validation prior to the autumn FWG meeting (one meeting per crop). Meetings will primarily be held via Microsoft Teams.

Trial and Data management

After product selection has been made each year, the successful applicant must review updates to the protocols for the current season, including any changes to trial specification.

AHDB will supply Excel workbooks in a standard format containing trial specifications based on the protocols. Trials must be carried out in accordance with these workbooks/protocols. Workbooks must be filled in and returned to the AHDB by the successful applicant in a timely manner (within two weeks of the trial harvest).

When all data has been received it will undergo an initial review by AHDB and the study director(s) to determine which data is suitable for use. The successful applicant must be able to supply appropriate expertise in plant pathology and trialling to undertake this to a high degree of competence and evidence of this expertise must be provided in the tender. Data which has passed this initial screening will then be analysed by AHDB using standard protocols. The analysed data will be reviewed at the FWG autumn meeting and messages agreed before any KT is undertaken. The agrochemical companies collaborating with the project receive an early view of the project results each year before any knowledge exchange is undertaken and it will be the responsibility of the successful applicant to arrange and undertake this.

Any additional data analyses beyond the standard analyses undertaken by AHDB that the successful applicant wishes to do for completion of the project final report or for other KT, such as scientific publications, will be the responsibility of the successful applicant.

Crop specific requirements

Oilseed Rape

Site locations must be selected by the successful applicant to ensure trials are located in areas of high disease pressure. Varieties susceptible primarily to the target disease must be used and infection should rely on natural disease epidemics, although addition of infected crop debris to trial plots may be used to boost disease inoculum levels. Varieties on the current AHDB Recommended List should be used where possible.

• One light leaf spot trial site must be located in Scotland, with a second site in England.
• Phoma canker trials must be located in England and must be at separate sites.

Evidence must be included in the tenderers proposal to show suitable sites are known and accessible as trial sites.

Wheat

Site locations for naturally infected diseases must be selected by the successful applicant to ensure trials are located in areas of high disease pressure while inoculated trials must be located at sites with appropriate facilities for trial management. Varieties susceptible primarily to the target disease must be grown with those on the current AHDB Recommended List used where possible. Commercial crops or specifically sown trial plots may be utilised.

• Four septoria trials must be located in England and two in Scotland.
• The yellow rust trial must be located in Eastern England, with a preference for the area south of the Humber.
• The brown rust trial must be located in Eastern or Southern England.
• The fusarium trial must be inoculated, and misting/irrigation must be applied as required to ensure disease development, these requirements must determine the most appropriate location.

AHDB will be responsible for sourcing fungicides from the agrochemical companies in quantities calculated by AHDB and reviewed by the applicant.

Barley

Site locations must be selected by the successful applicant to ensure trials are located in areas of high disease pressure. Varieties susceptible primarily to the target disease must be grown with those on the current AHDB Recommended List used where possible. Commercial crops or specifically sown trial plots may be utilised.

• Two net blotch trials. No particular regions are more susceptible, so local conditions must be taken into account when choosing sites to maximise disease pressure. Sites must be geographically distant to maximise the likelihood of at least one developing good disease.
• Two rhynchosporium trials. One must be located in the West of England or Wales and the other in Scotland to maximise the likelihood of at least one developing good disease.
• One ramularia trial. It must be located in Scotland or Northern England.

AHDB will be responsible for sourcing fungicides from the agrochemical companies in quantities calculated by AHDB and reviewed by the applicant.

Reporting

The successful applicant will be required to submit an annual report each year, summarising and interpreting results which can be used by the industry.

A project management report will also be required to be submitted by the 31^st December each year detailing milestones, changes to staff and budgets.

A final project report will also be required from the successful applicant at the end of the project that summarises results obtained during the project and interpreting the impact on industry. This should constitute a full record of the research conducted within the project, such that any part could be repeated in the future.

The timing of publication can be selected in liaison with AHDB to maximise efficiency in reporting of results relative to when the results are available.

All templates can be found at https://ahdb.org.uk/ahdb-cereals-oilseeds-research-report-templates.

Knowledge Transfer (KT)

The successful applicant will be required to make a significant contribution to KT. Platform presentations at AHDB events will be required plus field events demonstrating trials. The successful applicant must be able to provide suitably qualified people to speak at these events and show evidence of their experience of speaking to grower audiences about arable crop disease management. Attendance at the Agronomy Conference and other events (not including hosting trial demonstrations) will be paid at a day rate plus expenses and the costs should not be included in the tenderers proposal. Costs for all other knowledge transfer activities should be included in the proposal and detailed as a separate item.

The successful applicant will also be expected to contribute towards the preparation of AHDB publications related to the project (annual updates of key publications plus updates of other material as required on an ad-hoc basis). This will include providing commentary on project results, and sense checking. The cost of this must be included within the proposal submission and any costs indicated as a separate item.

Additionally, key developments in the project (such as release of data on a newly registered product) will be the subject of press releases at appropriate times during the cropping season and the applicant must be able to provide suitably qualified persons with experience of dealing with the agricultural press as required and must show evidence of this expertise in their proposal.

Activities for which the successful applicant must supply one or more suitable individuals with experience of delivering research findings to farmers are:

• In-season trial videos, covering wheat, barley and oilseed rape
• 1 x AHDB Agronomy Conference (England in December) – covering wheat, barley and oilseed rape
• Host trial demonstrations and visits
• Promotional videos for Fungicide Performance events

Additional knowledge transfer activities may be requested. The above list is an indication of the minimum requirements.

Fungicide Performance results may be presented at events or within articles not requested by and/or directly supported by AHDB. These will not be funded by AHDB but must be cleared with AHDB in advance. The successful applicant must ensure that levy payers and stakeholders recognise how AHDB funding and support has contributed to project outcomes.

Production of publications

AHDB disease management documentation, requiring annual updating, to which the successful applicant must contribute in terms of sense checking is as follows:

(Available on AHDB website).

• Foliar fungicide activity and seed treatment options for wheat
• Foliar fungicide activity and seed treatment options for barley

Industry/collaborators

The success of the fungicide performance program depends on an effective working relationship with the agrochemical companies.  Tenderers must be able to demonstrate in their proposal they have an effective working relationship with at least some of the key agrochemical companies in the UK and be able to develop a network of contacts with all the key companies.

In addition, an external collaborator currently funds and runs a series of trials using identical protocols, with data being shared between the two groups. Tenderers must demonstrate successful completion of collaborative projects with other organisations, research or academic institutes, etc. within their proposal.

Confidentiality

The project will be testing products supplied by agrochemical companies in their development phase before registration. As such the successful applicant will have access to commercially sensitive information and a high degree of confidentiality will be required. Current terms under which data are released are set out in the project ‘Ground Rules’ (see Appendix 2) and these must be adhered to at all times and form part of the contractual agreement for this tender.

Conflict of interest

The value of the fungicide performance work to levy payers lies in its independence from manufacturers and distributors of agrochemicals and the results of the trials can have significant impact on the success or otherwise of products in the market-place. As such it is vitally important that the successful applicant is free from any conflict of interest which could influence the running of the trials or interpretation of the data or could give that impression. Consequently, manufacturers or distributors of agrochemicals are precluded from the tender process. In addition, tenderers must declare potential conflicts of interest. Examples of this include but are not restricted to conducting research on behalf of one or more agrochemical companies during the past 5 years (companies concerned must be named); receiving sponsorship or similar/equivalent support from an agrochemical manufacturer or distributor during the last five years (companies concerned must be named). This information will remain confidential and will not be released to any third party by AHDB.

Structure of submissions

Your response must demonstrate how you will meet the requirements stated within the tender document, application form and the evaluation criteria.

Contract conditions:

You will be asked to review and agree to:

• Contract – 2 Party
• AHDB Terms & Conditions
• Collaboration Agreement

Joint applications from two or more organisations are acceptable and encouraged where there is added value. If any consortiums are formed to deliver this project, then each company / party who make up the consortium will need to complete and sign a 2-Party contract.

Furthermore, all parties of the consortium will need to sign a joint Collaboration Agreement. Collaboration Agreement terms are available on request, please email Research@ahdb.org.uk

Submission information

• Your tender submission must be returned to research@ahdb.org.uk on completion by 12 noon on Tuesday 6^th of May 2025 for consideration.
• Notification of outcome: 20^th May 2025.
• Please direct any clarifications regarding this tender to research@ahdb.org.uk
• Questions and answers will be shared with all interested parties to ensure transparency.
• Deadlines for clarifications will be the 15^th April 2025.
• Proposals should be submitted using the template for a research project over £50,000,
• Note that the scoring criteria for this request for quotation is different to the one outlined in the AHDB R&KE full proposal form and can be found in Appendix 3.

Overview Summary

Appendixes

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3 - Evaluation criteria