AHDB Horticulture STANDARD RESEARCH REPORT TEMPLATE
This template should not be used for variety trial reporting or fellowship projects.
Information in Blue text has been added to assist you in completing the report template.
This information should be used in conjunction with the more detailed information provided within the Guidelines also available from
Please delete all blue text before submitting the report to the AHDB
Project title:Project number:
Project leader: / [Name, Organisation]
Report: / [Annual/Final] report, [Month Year]
Previous report: / [Annual report, Month Year]
Key staff: / [Name]
[Name]
Location of project:
Industry Representative: / [Name, Organisation, Address]
Date project commenced: / [Date Month Year]
Date project completed
(or expected completion date): / [Date Month Year]
DISCLAIMER
While the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board seeks to ensure that the information contained within this document is accurate at the time of printing, no warranty is given in respect thereof and, to the maximum extent permitted by law the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board accepts no liability for loss, damage or injury howsoever caused (including that caused by negligence) or suffered directly or indirectly in relation to information and opinions contained in or omitted from this document.
© Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board [YEAR]. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including by photocopy or storage in any medium by electronic mean) or any copy or adaptation stored, published or distributed (by physical, electronic or other means) without prior permission in writing of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, other than by reproduction in an unmodified form for the sole purpose of use as an information resource when the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board or AHDB Horticulture is clearly acknowledged as the source, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks, logos and brand names contained in this publication are the trademarks of their respective holders. No rights are granted without the prior written permission of the relevant owners.
Where relevant, please also insert the following disclaimer:
[The results and conclusions in this report are based on an investigation conducted over a one-year period. The conditions under which the experiments were carried out and the results have been reported in detail and with accuracy. However, because of the biological nature of the work it must be borne in mind that different circumstances and conditions could produce different results. Therefore, care must be taken with interpretation of the results, especially if they are used as the basis for commercial product recommendations.]
AUTHENTICATION
We declare that this work was done under our supervision according to the procedures described herein and that the report represents a true and accurate record of the results obtained.
[Name]
[Position]
[Organisation]
Signature ...... Date ......
[Name]
[Position]
[Organisation]
Signature ...... Date ......
Report authorised by:
[Name]
[Position]
[Organisation]
Signature ...... Date ......
[Name]
[Position]
[Organisation]
Signature ...... Date ......
CONTENTS
To update the Contents Page, click to highlight the table, then right click on ‘Update field’, ‘Update entire table’
Grower Summary
Headline
Background
Summary
Financial Benefits
Action Points
Science Section
Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Knowledge and Technology Transfer
Glossary
References
Appendices
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2018. All rights reserved
GROWER SUMMARY
The Grower Summary should be a maximum of six sides of A4.
The Grower Summary must be prepared in consultation with the project’s Industry Representative.
Headline
The key message(s) from the project highlighting the financial benefit to industry or informing the industry that only limited change to growing practice is being advised.
For example:
Save £300 to £500/ha by reducing N fertiliser application in cucumber crops.
Or
Save labour costs by not ‘tipping back’ roses as it is rarely worthwhile.
The Headline should be no more than 50 words
Background
Outline briefly why the work was undertaken.
Summary
Expand the headline message(s) and application and provide all grower-relevant details in a form easy to assimilate and compare.
Please refer to instructions in the full Guidelines if you make reference to crop protection products.
Financial Benefits
Provide the best indication, using a range of figures, of the cost/benefit of implementing the recommendations arising from this project.
Action Points
Indicate what growers must do differently to achieve benefits.
SCIENCE SECTION
Introduction
The ‘Science Section’ should also be simple and precise in its presentation. However, it should be detailed enough to describe experimental methods sufficiently for growers to understand the work.
Materials and methods
This section should include detail such as: site location, soil type, trial design, treatment list (product, active ingredient, concentration, application rate, application time), assessments including explanation of scales used, cultural details/crop diary (drilling or planting dates, propagation details, irrigation or watering regimes, fertiliser applications, routine pesticide applications, additional lighting etc), and harvest. Details on statistical analysis should also be included where relevant.
Results
Describe the results in the text. Tables or graphs of results should be placed near the reference in the text. Assessment dates should be clearly noted. Include an explanation of the statistics used.
Table captions should be written as ‘Table 1. Effect of distance from fans on lesions of stem Botrytis’ and be positioned above the table. The table title should be left aligned.
Example:
Table 1. Effects of distance from fans on number of girdling stem Botrytis lesions
FactorHouse and row / Face / Quarter from central path / Mean
1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Fan and duct house
Fan row / 1 / 0.5 / 2.0 / 4.5 / 6.0 / 3.3
2 / 0.0 / 1.0 / 2.5 / 3.0 / 1.6
Quarter way / 1 / 0.5 / 2.5 / 0.5 / 2.0 / 1.3
2 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 1.5 / 1.0 / 0.9
Mid way / 1 / 1.0 / 2.0 / 1.0 / 1.0 / 1.3
2 / 2.0 / 1.0 / 1.0 / 6.0 / 2.5
Mean / 0.8 / 1.5 / 1.8 / 3.2
Figure captions (including graphs and photographs) should be written as ‘Figure 1. Weekly heat use (kWh/m2)’ and be positioned below the figure. The figure title should be left aligned.
These must be correctly named with Latin binomials, cultivar names and/or common names as appropriate. For example Fusariumoxysporum. When describing the disease generically it should be Fusarium root rot.
Pesticides should be written as ‘trade name’ (active ingredient) when first mentioned in text and then as ‘trade name’ except where the repeated inclusion of the active ingredient would aid interpretation, e.g., comparison of products containing the same active ingredient.
Discussion
Discuss the meaning of the results and clearly explain how they lead to the conclusions and explain how the objectives detailed in the Funding Agreement have been achieved.
Conclusions
In the Final Report the conclusion section should be used to pull together the findings from the complete project.
In an Annual Report this section will only cover the work for the year. If projects have more than one contractor, the Project Leader must ensure that all results are discussed in an integrated manner. It may be helpful to present the conclusions in a bullet point format.
Knowledge and Technology Transfer
This section should list all the technology transfer activities carried out that relate to this project; the Final Report should include the complete list for the whole of the project.
Glossary
If appropriate, a glossary of terms used in the report should be included.
References
References should be included in the report and should be written in the following standard format:
Atkey, P.T. and Nichols, R. (1983). Surface structure of Agaricusbisporus by scanning electron microscopy. Mushroom Journal 129:334-335.
Grogan, H. (1997). Examination of the efficacy of two novel fungicides against Dactyliumdendroides. Horticultural Development Company Annual report for project M 22.
Appendices
This will include all supporting statistical analyses, raw data, and additional relevant photographs not incorporated elsewhere.
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2018. All rights reserved 1