THE Forestry Commission’s research centre at Alice Holt Forest has been recognised among the top performers in Europe for plant, water and soil analysis.

ICP Forests, a European Union forestry programme, ranked Forest Research laboratories at the Alice Holt Research Station near Farnham first for water analysis out of 40 other European laboratories.

This ranking adds to the laboratories’ existing top rankings of first out of 31 for soil analysis, and first out of 59 for plant analysis.

Forest Research provides a comprehensive range of standard and specialist comparison tests for inorganic analysis of trees, other plants, soils and water.

Tests on plant materials can provide important data on topics including nutrient deficiency and fertilisers, damage by de-icing salt, plant and land contamination and phyto-remediation, where green plants and their associated micro-organisms are used to stabilise or reduce contamination in soils, sludges, sediments and surface or ground water.