william macalpine

Science

William Macalpine

Plant Breeder

Sustainable Soils and Crops

PUBLICATIONS
Location
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ
Tel
+44 (0) 1582 938 018
Email
william.macalpine@rothamsted.ac.uk
Professional Platforms
ORCID
Google Scholar

Biography

William is a willow breeder at Rothamsted Research. He has 18 years’ experience in willow breeding, perennial energy crop agronomy and in making phenotypic and physiological measurements. He has performed over 700 crosses, carried out research to overcome crossing barriers, produced mapping populations and elite SRC willow varieties. He has planned, planted and managed around 75 field trials. In addition to the breeding trials located at Rothamsted Research, he has collaborated with a mix of academic and commercial partners to site trials at locations across Europe. William has an in-depth knowledge of the UK National Willow Collection, a unique Salix germplasm resource, which is located at Rothamsted Research.

Strategic Programme

  • Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems (ASSIST)
  • Tailoring Plant Metabolism (TPM)

PhD Projects

  • Identifying drought tolerant and/or water use efficient short rotation coppice willows

Awards

  • 2003 - BSc Agriculture, University of Reading, UK

Measures of Esteem

  • Plant breeders rights awarded from Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) for: RR06103 'Roth Hambleton', RR06202 Roth Mourne', RR04250 Roth Cheviot, RR04246 Roth Cotswold, RR04248 Roth Chiltern
  • February 2010-2017. Annual lecture given to University of Nottingham masters students. Renewable energy from plants: Willow breeding at Rothamsted
  • December 2013: 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition Session organiser for
  • Short rotation forestry and short-rotation coppice session
  • 2nd Prize in poster competition at Bioten Conference. Poster titled: "Seed to near market variety
  • the BEGIN willow breeding pipeline 2003-2010 and beyond”
  • May 2008. RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal. William was a member of the Rothamsted Research team that won gold for the Continuous Learning display: Willow Power - The diversity of willow and its role in combating climate change.