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Rothamsted's Long Term Experiments

Download PDF fileGuide to the Classical and other Long-term Experiments, Datasets and Sample Archive

Rothamsted's Classical experiments are unique in their age and variety, and are, deservedly, world-famous. There are many other experiments on our Rothamsted and Woburn farms that, by conventional standards, can justifiably be described as 'long-term'. Most of these were originally established to study long-term changes in soil fertility and soil properties. However, these experiments and a number of others are also valuable for addressing many other issues including tests on the incidence of pests, diseases and weeds; soil pollution; ecology of farmland; carbon sequestration; factors influencing the sustainability of arable agriculture.

Link dot Rothamsted Insect Survey
Link dot Woburn Ley-arable
Link dot Highfield and Fosters Ley-Arable
Link dot Woburn Organic Manuring
Link dot Straw Incorporation
Link dot Fungicides against Eyespot
Link dot Habitat Fragmentation
Link dot Woburn Market Garden Experiment
Link dot Woburn Sewage Sludge, Liquid Sludge and Metal Salt Experiments

You may also be interested in The Rothamsted Archive. Click here for more information

Rothamsted insect survey

The Rothamsted Insect Survey (Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Department) operates two national networks for monitoring insect populations in the UK. A suction trap network, run with the help of the Scottish Agricultural science Agency and trap operators at sixteen sites, is used to monitor aphids. A light trap network, run with the help of volunteers at nearly one hundred sites, is used to monitor moths. Daily samples are taken for most of the year, and these date back to 1933 for the earliest light trap and 1964 for the earliest suction trap. The spatial and temporal scales of monitoring have led to standardised, long-term datasets which are internationally recognised as the most comprehensive for any terrestrial invertebrate groups anywhere in the world. The aphid data now form part of an even larger EC-funded network `EXAMINE'. The data have a range of applications in fundamental and applied aspects of insect population dynamics and ecology, such as:

We welcome enquiries from others interested in using the data.

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Woburn Ley-Arable

This experiment was started in 1938 on the free-draining sandy soil at Woburn. It compares the effects of continuous arable and ley-arable rotations on soil organic matter and on the yield of arable test crops. At present the continuous arable rotations include rye, forage maize and beans; the leys are either 3- or 8-year grass or 3- or 8-year grass/clover. The subsequent test crops are winter wheat and winter rye; on each, 4 rates of N are also tested. The experiment receives P, K and Mg fertilisers and chalk such that these nutrients and acidity do not limit yields. The experiment clearly demonstrates the value of maintaining soil organic matter on this light sandy soil. It has also demonstrated how potato cyst nematodes, introduced to one of the blocks soon after starting the experiment, on potato seed used for one of the potato test crops, will multiply to severely damaging populations after about eight potato crops. In 1955, the potato test crop was almost a total failure due to attack by this nematode. The experiment has also shown how deep sandy soils can harbour ectoparasitic nematode populations at depth, and that those populations can only be controlled by fumigation - granular nematicides incorporated to a depth of 20cm are ineffective.

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Highfield and Fosters Ley-Arable

This experiment, on two fields, at Rothamsted was started in 1949. As with the Woburn Ley-Arable experiment, its purpose was to study the effects of different arable and ley-arable rotations on soil organic matter content and on various test crops. Highfield had been in pasture for several centuries before the experiment began; some plots stayed in permanent grass, whilst some were ploughed and then alternated between 3-year leys and 3-year arable cropping. In contrast, Fosters had been in arable cropping for several centuries before 1949; on this field some plots stayed in continuous arable cropping, others alternated between ley and arable crops and some plots were sown to permanent grass. It has been much simplified in recent years and yields are no longer recorded. Changes in soil organic matter are still monitored as these have yet to reach equilibrium.

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Woburn Organic Manuring

Started in 1964 on the sandy soil at Woburn, this experiment compares, within one long-term experiment, many of the treatments which had previously been used to increase soil organic matter. Treatments included farmyard manure, straw, green manures, peat, grass or grass/clover leys; other treatments received no organic amendment. The effect of these treatments on soil organic matter and on the yield of subsequent arable crops has been tested. The experiment is currently being used to evaluate the residual benefit of treatments last applied in 1988.

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Straw Incorporation

Experiments started at both Rothamsted and Woburn in autumn 1983 to test the effects of incorporating straw instead of burning it were in response to the anticipated ban on straw burning. Their initial purpose was to investigate the possibility that there might be problems in incorporating large amounts of straw in the soil, and consequent adverse effects on crop growth and yield, and on the incidence of pests, diseases and weeds. The first phase of the experiments showed that farmers' concerns, though legitimate, were largely unfounded. The burning treatments were discontinued in 2000 (replaced by straw baled and removed) but the experiments are continuing, mainly to investigate the long-term consequences of repeatedly incorporating straw on the build-up of organic matter and on the dynamics of soil nitrogen.

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Fungicides against Eyespot

This is another experiment on winter wheat, and was started to investigate how populations of the eyespot fungus (Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) respond to the repeated application of different fungicides used to control the disease. The experiment is continuing and is possibly unique in the UK in having plots that have tested the same fungicide treatments for over 15 years.

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Habitat Fragmentation

The fragmentation of semi-natural habitats on farmland into small patches has important implications for both the conservation of bio-diversity and the suppression of pest problems on crops. In 1989, an experiment was started to investigate the long-term effects of habitat fragmentation on insect population dynamics. A series of habitat patches, consisting of a mixture of four grasses and four perennial broad-leaved plants, was sown in fields at both Rothamsted and Long Ashton Research Stations to provide an experimental arena for field studies of insect populations in fragmented habitats. These habitat patches are surrounded each year by a cereal crop (see aerial photograph). The patches are of two sizes: Small (9m x 9m) and Large (27m x 27m). There are five large patches and four blocks of nine small patches. The combined area of the nine small patches in one block is equal to the area of one large patch. The experiment is bordered on one side by a hedgerow that acts as a source of colonising insects for the habitat patches. Current studies include investigations of the effects of spatial scale on the interactions between populations of a plant (ribwort plantain), two species of weevils feeding on the plant and several species of parasitic wasps attacking the weevils, and studies of the foraging behaviour of bumble bees.

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Woburn Market Garden Experiment

This experiment was started in 1942 as part of the need during WWII to increase food production. Originally the aims were to test various bulky organic manures against fertilisers, and these were applied from 1942 to 1961, or to 1967 for a few treatments. The organic manures included sewage sludge, always from the same works in West London, a sludge compost made locally from the sludge with added straw, farmyard manure and a vegetable compost made from cuttings of hedges and other green waste from around the farm; all were applied at two rates. It is the oldest experiment on sludge and sludge composts in the world. After the war, the treatments were continued to study the longer-term build-up of organic matter on the light sandy loam soil, and its effects on yields. Additions of sewage-containing treatments were stopped after 1961 because heavy metals were detected in the sludges, and had built up in the soils and crops. Since that time, the experiment has proved invaluable for studying the impacts of heavy metals and organic pollutants on the food chain and soil microorganisms. Also, archived sludges and soils have been used for studying the inputs and losses of organic pollutants from soils. Results from this experiment were the first to show the negative effects of pollutants on agro-ecosystems and have led to new experiments that seek to define more precise limits for environmental protection following sludge application to land. In 1990, sub-plots on the original experiment were used in the first field test in the world to evaluate metal-hyperaccumulator plants as a way of removing heavy metals by biological means.This work is part of the Soil Protection and Remediation Group

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Woburn Sewage Sludge, Liquid Sludge and Metal Salt Experiments

In 1993, a committee of independent scientists was set up in the UK to examine evidence for the damaging effects of heavy metals from sewage sludge additions to land, on soil fertility and agricultural productivity. A key recommendation was the setting up of long-term field experiments in the UK that would be representative of different soils types. The Woburn sewage-sludge field experiment was started in 1994 as part of a network of nine sites in the UK. All experiments received the same treatments using the same sewage-sludge cakes. The aim of these experiments is to examine the effects of sewage-sludge applications to agricultural soils on soil microbial activity and the implications for agricultural productivity and long-term soil fertility. Three naturally contaminated metal-rich sludge cakes, with predominantly high zinc, copper or cadmium concentrations relative to other metals, were added from 1994 to 1998 to achieve dose-response curves for each individual metal in soil. These experiments also include no sludge and uncontaminated sludge cakes as control treatments. In addition, there are also long-term build-up treatments where the same sludge cakes are being added at a low rate over 20 years to gradually increase the metal concentrations in soil.

At Woburn and two other sites in the UK, long-term liquid-sludge and metal-salt field experiments were also started in 1995 adjacent to the sewage sludge cake experiments. Liquid sludges spiked with zinc, copper or cadmium sulphate were applied to the liquid-sludge field experiments over three years until 1998, to give dose-response curves for the respective metals. Treatments without liquid sludge and uncontaminated liquid sludge controls were also included. For the metal-salt field experiments, zinc, copper and cadmium carbonates, mixed in a sand matrix, were applied every year until 1998, again to obtain dose-response curves for individual metals in soil.

These field experiments at Woburn and the other sites around the UK are unique in that no other country in the world has such detailed experiments representing so many different soil types. In the long term, these experiments will be invaluable both for improving scientific understanding and for guiding environmental legislation.