The county became the epicentre of the UK ash dieback outbreak in 2012 when the first confirmed case of the infection in wild trees was found in Ashwellthorpe, near Wymondham.

It has created an urgent need to propagate new ash populations from mother trees which have been found to show resistance to the disease.

Researchers at the John Innes Centre, based on the Norwich Research Park, have adapted an "embryo extraction method" which rapidly speeds up the germination of European ash seeds.

It means a process which can take up to six years in nature now takes around one week in the........

© Eastern Daily Press