Dr Carol Norris

Technical Manager for Oilseeds
Tel: +44(0) 1223 342286
E-mail: Dr Carol Norris

As Technical Manager for Oilseeds I am responsible for all aspects of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) testing of new oilseeds varieties and for certification issues. My main area of work is with oilseed rape where I am currently managing the recording of over 2000 field plots for phenotypic characteristics for the assessment of DUS. One problem with oilseed rape is that we currently have to grow a very large reference collection to compare new varieties with, and this is increasing every year, so a large part of my role is to research methods of replacing having to grow every variety each year with new and scientific techniques in order to keep the volume of work within manageable limits. One such method would be to use molecular markers to screen varieties and make decisions on which reference varieties would need to be grown. I am currently heavily involved in such a research project which is being funded partly by the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and partly by DEFRA. I also have a leading role in the development of Image Analysis (IA) techniques for measuring phenotypic plant characteristics in a number of species.