There are fears that haggis could be in short supply if farmers do not take action to control lung disease in sheep.

There are fears that haggis could be in short supply if farmers do not take action to control lung disease in sheep.

Lungs, or "lights" as Burns would have known them, are a key ingredient of traditional haggis. However, meat processors are reporting that many sheep lungs are being rejected as unfit for consumption because of an apparent rise in lungworm infection.

According to Sandy Clark, of Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) Veterinary Investigation Centre in Thurso, the general rise in lungworm numbers could be the result of climate change and milder winters, or farmers cutting back on the use of medicines.

Lungworms are easily controlled by the same treatments used to kill other internal pests but, as some of these are now less common, farmers may be reducing their orming programmes.

Clark commented: "Coughing in cattle or sheep at grass is, in the majority of cases, going to be due to lungworms. Any farmer with coughing livestock should consult his vet about treatment."

Meanwhile, scientists at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) at Invergowrie, Dundee, are set to share in more than £15m of new research funding after securing roles in four new major research projects.

One of them involves working with a range of partners across Europe in a five-year programme that will examine nitrogen use efficiency in potato, barley and wheat.

The project aims to produce more efficient varieties that will maintain good crop yield and quality on lower inputs of nitrogen fertiliser.

Another project will sequence the potato genome to allow researchers to map exactly where different genes responsible for traits like colour, tuber shape and disease resistance are located and enable the breeding of new varieties with desirable characteristics.

Two linked projects on melosis, the key to sexual reproduction in plants and animals, aim to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the process in plants.

Dr Luke Ramsay, who will work on both projects, explained how understanding melosis would lead to improved barley varieties.

"If plant breeders are going to make the most of the variation there is, they need to be able to control how that variation is being passed on to the next generation of barley. What we would like to be able to do is nudge the process towards certain goals."