Production of $Upsilon$ mesons in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy $sqrt{s_{NN}}=5 mathrm{TeV}$ is studied with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $1.6 mathrm{nb}^{-1}$. The $Upsilon$ mesons of transverse momenta up to $15 mathrm{GeV}/c$ are reconstructed in the dimuon decay mode. The rapidity coverage in the centre-of-mass system is $1.5<y<4.0$ (forward region) and $-5.0<y<-2.5$ (backward region). The forward-backward production ratio and the nuclear modification factor for $Upsilon(1S)$ mesons are determined. The data are compatible with the predictions for a suppression of $Upsilon(1S)$ production with respect to proton-proton collisions in the forward region, and an enhancement in the backward region. The suppression is found to be smaller than in the case of prompt $J/psi$ mesons.
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