Using conifer bark to combat parasites

Dr Spiridoula Athanasiadou

Veterinary Sciences at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), is seeking collaborators in the forestry industry to further her current research.

How did you get involved in this research?

A few years ago, I was part of an international project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, investigating the antiparasitic properties of bark extracts from conifers in Norway.

We were looking at how extracts from tree species like Scots Pine, Spruce and Birch were affecting parasites and how the different ages of the trees impacted that. The age of a tree is one of the determinants of the concentration of secondary metabolites, which are molecules a plant produces that do not really influence the plant itself, but on other living organisms.

We found that some bark extracts killed a lot of parasites when tested in the lab and when given to animals in that first stage of research, which was encouraging.

Recently, we have received funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to investigate if we could identify similar properties in bark originating from the UK.

What does the testing look like?

We have different ways of making the bark extracts, using different solvents to make sure a variety of compounds were extracted and with those variations we can test various stages of parasites: from egg to larvae and adult parasites.

Basically, we put them in petri dishes and incubated them with different extracts for different amounts of time. The large variety of samples we had in the lab were tested against parasites from sheep and we started to see some good activity in vitro and in vivo.

Why is conifer bark effective?

There are some factors that we know make a difference, like condensed tannins because they’ve been shown to have antiparasitic properties.

But one of the things we want to do in this project is to identify many different compounds so we can characterise bark for antiparasitic activity potential. So, for example, we’d be able to say if a bark sample has X and Y, then it’s likely to be active.

Professor Nicholas Westwood from St Andrews University is going to help us identify the active compounds because we’re still speculating about that.

What’s the end goal of the project?

The end goal would be to incorporate bark extracts in animal feeds for parasite control. We’ve had interest from animal feed companies and in particular one that has investigated this area before. But we are looking at least five years down the line for incorporating these extracts into animal feeds.

For this to be a viable product, we must find ways of making more concentrated and cheaply made extracts.

How could our Members get involved?

At this stage, we need to identify a company that can supply us with bark. We do not necessarily need huge amounts, but we want to capture as much variation as possible. It would be good to get bark representative to various times of the year.

If you have access to a variety of conifer bark samples and are interested in contributing to this research, please contact spiridoula.athanasiadou@sruc.ac.uk

Seeds scattered on Scottish hills by forestry drones

Drones have been used to scatter an estimated 20 million birch seeds on Scottish hills by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

The drone seeding is the latest phase in efforts by FLS, working with Transport Scotland, to reduce the likelihood of landslips on a section of the A83. The technique – new to FLS - is being tested and evaluated by FLS partners, Forest Research and Auto Spray Systems.

Planting native tree species on these slopes will ensure that over time an extensive root system will develop through the soils, improving soil structure as well as to reduce the effects of surface erosion on much of the exposed mineral soils.

The seeds were dispersed in a matter of hours over areas of the landslip, which were able to access, which would have taken weeks to cover by hand planting. The drones covered a 12-hectare area in a very short time.

James Hand, Operations Forester, said: “This is a major innovation that we expect will soon be adopted across the country as we work to adapt our forests and the wider landscape such that they can better withstand the impact of a changing climate.”