Farmers across the country have been asked to capture slugs in their fields and send them to Norwich for a ground-breaking scientific study.

Scientists are hoping these "slug scouts" will harvest 1,000 of the slimy pests for feeding trials at the John Innes Centre, based on Norwich Research Park.

The project, led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), is exploring how palatable a range of different wheat crops are to slugs, which cost UK arable farmers an estimated £100m every year.

It is part of a wider initiative aiming to identify slug-resistant plant traits which could be incorporated into commercial crop varieties to help reduce farmers' reliance on environmentally-damaging pesticides.

BOFIN founder Tom Allen-Stevens, who co-ordinates farmer involvement in the project, said: "As they [slugs] get active again this month, rather than let them graze on our crops, we’re keen for farmers to join our group of 'slug scouts' who will trap the pests and send them in for this important study."

The volunteers will be provided with containers and instructions on how to trap pests in the most slug-infested spot on their farm.

The trial follows initial studies that indicated one particular wheat, known as Watkins 788, may be resistant to slugs.

"The initial feeding trials showed Watkins 788 was consistently spurned by slugs," said Dr Simon Griffiths of John Innes Centre, who leads the research.

"So we multiplied up enough of the variety for farmer-led trials that took place on farms across England over the autumn and winter."

The results are due to be published next month.

"The feeding trials will repeat the initial trials and then look in more detail at how slugs graze – whether it’s the Watkins seed or young shoots they tend to spurn, for example," added Dr Griffiths.

For more details on the project see www.bofin.org.uk or email info@bofin.org.uk.