ADAS scientists have a wealth of experience and expertise on arable and horticultural crop nutrition and biostimulant use, with a strong track record of robust and practical applied science such as co-authoring the AHDB nutrient management guide (RB209), independently reviewing the efficacy of biostimulants (AHDB RR89; Defra project NM0102), and running a wide range of nutrient response and biostimulant experiments (e.g. Roques et al. 2012; Storer et al. 2018; Kindred et al. 2017). ADAS is fully independent and ISO9001 certified.
How can we help you?
Our scientists want to continue to improve crop nutrient use efficiency whilst reducing environmental impacts. We offer research and efficacy testing at a range of scales, from glasshouse/polytunnel, field plot and tramline scale trials including bespoke trials. We can design trials with you or following standardised protocols set to your requirements on the majority of UK arable and horticultural crops. We recognize that biostimulants and foliar nutrients may require bespoke conditions to demonstrate product efficacy, and we are experienced in establishing trials under the appropriate low nutrient or stress conditions (e.g. drought). We can also help to generate data to demonstrate efficacy under the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (2019/1009).
We know that sometimes running a bespoke trial can be out of budget, particularly for novel products. To help with this and encourage innovation we have developed the ‘ADAS slots’ trial offer, where entrants can purchase slots into trials and share the cost.
The slots trials and nutrition services currently on offer are described below, but if there’s something else you would like to see, please let us know! We want these trials to work for you, your products and target market, and if you are looking for something a little different, we’re always happy to discuss bespoke experiments too.
ADAS Nutrition and biostimulant slots and services
Depending on the crop species and assessments included, prices typically start at around £2.5k + VAT per entry into a slots trial, with discounts for subsequent entries. A wide range of assessments are included in all the trials, and each entrant will receive a comprehensive bespoke report summarising the results.
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ADAS Nutrition Challenge |
A competition to achieve the best gross margin over fertiliser inputs, comparing the effects of different nutrition programmes on winter wheat yield and nitrogen uptake efficiency. The aim is to encourage innovation in nutrient management. Entrants design their own bespoke nutrition programme to compete against a nil N, standard RB209 control and an ADAS treatment. Treatments can include solid, liquid and/or foliar fertiliser treatments and/or biostimulants. At the end of the season each participant receives an individual report benchmarking their treatments against the control treatments. More details here: https://farmpep.net/initiative/adas-nutrition-challenge |
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ADAS Cereals Biostimulant slots |
A cost-effective way to attain independent UK field study data testing biostimulant efficacy in a winter wheat crop. The cost of a full small plot trial is shared between entrants however each client’s treatment details remain confidential. Each participant receives an individual report summarising the results of their entries compared to an untreated control. Depending on interest, these can be run in winter wheat, winter barley and/or spring barley. See below for the latest flyer. |
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ADAS potato slots |
*New for 2026* The potato slots trial will enable testing of biostimulants and/or foliar nutrition products under polytunnel conditions in order to create a high stress or low nutrient environment to test product efficacy. Entrants will share the cost of a full polytunnel trial, but entrants treatment details remain confidential. A cost-effective way to generate a robust dataset for demonstrating product efficacy. |
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Pot trials in a range of crop species |
A wide range of crop species (including horticultural protected and field crops, arable crops and potatoes) can be tested in pot trials under glasshouse and/or polytunnel conditions. Different stresses can be created such as drought or nutrient stress under these conditions, to robustly test product efficacy. |
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YEN Nutrition |
Detailed report interpreting grain analysis on your farm, enabling the identification of farm wide trends in crop nutrient management, to improve nutrient management planning for the following season. More details here: https://farmpep.net/YEN-Nutrition and see below for the latest flyer. |
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ADAS Agronomics |
The ADAS agronomics service enables the testing of products such as biostimulants and/or foliar nutrients at the field scale, using farm scale equipment. ADAS can robustly design trials, and/or analyse NDVI or yield map data from existing trials for analysis using Agronomics. This enables the statistical analysis of trial data at the field scale, providing statistical support to treatment effects. More details here: https://farmpep.net/agronomics |
Do you have questions or would like to know more?
Please contact:
- Kate Storer: Kate.Storer@adas.co.uk
- Abigail Marshall: Abigail.Marshall@adas.co.uk
References
Kindred, D.R., Sylvester-Bradley, R., Milne, A.E., Marchant, B., Hatley ,D., Kendall, S.K., Clarke, S., Storer, K., Berry, P.M. 2017. Spatial variation in Nitrogen requirements of cereals, and their interpretation. Advances in Animal Biosciences: Precision Agriculture (ECPA) 8:2 pp. 303-307.
Roques, S., Kendall, S., Smith, K., Newell Price, P., Berry, P. 2012. A review of the non-NPKS nutrient requirements of UK cereals and oilseed rape. AHDB Research Review No. 78.
Storer, KE, Berry, PM., Kindred DR., Sylvester-Bradley, R. 2018. Identifying oilseed rape varieties with high yield and low nitrogen fertiliser requirement. Field Crops Research. 225:104-116.
Storer, K., Kendall, S., White, C., Roques, S., Berry, P. 2016. A review of the function, efficacy and value of biostimulant products available for UK cereals and oilseeds.
