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Greener Grasslands

Home of the four Sustainable Livestock Production (SLP) LINK sponsored 'Breeding' projects

Greener Grasslands

 

Next consortium meeting

29 February 2012
IBERS, Aberystwyth

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Sustainable Livestock Production (SLP) LINK Programme

LK0685  -  Genetic improvement of forage grasses and white clover to improve phosphorus use efficiency and reduce phosphorus losses to water from UK grasslands

• Start Date: 01/04/2008

• End Date:  31/03/2013

Background  -  The intensification of livestock production systems over the last fifty years has led to a loss of fragile habitats and a degradation of the environment. In particular, there is strong evidence for a major contribution from agriculture to diffuse water pollution problems, especially those related to nutrient enrichment. The industry is now under considerable pressure to devise and adopt measures to improve water quality in UK waterways. Phosphorus is one of the most important determinants of both yield and environmental quality in agricultural systems. There has been an increase in soil phosphorus status of agricultural land since the 1940’s reflecting a significant imbalance between on-farm phosphorus inputs and outputs. Phosphorus inputs in fertilisers and animal feeds have been greater than phosphorus outputs in agricultural product by about 15 kg P/ha/year, with crops typically recovering less than 10% of applied fertiliser P. These excess inputs of phosphorus have lead to well documented problems with respect to water quality and the maintenance of critical ecosystem processes. The livestock sector needs to respond to the challenge of maintaining production and enhancing economic returns against a background of lower soil P fertility and environmental damage, whilst, at the same time, meeting the requirements of the animal without jeopardising animal health. This project aims to develop productive varieties of forage grasses and legumes with higher intrinsic phosphorus use efficiencies (PUE) in terms of P acquisition, utilization and retention within swards, through selection of the relevant traits and their incorporation into genetic backgrounds conferring high agronomic performance. This will result in lower fertiliser P requirements and P transfer to water courses by overland flow. Genetic improvement of forage crops has played an important role in sustaining the economic development of UK livestock farming over the last eighty years. The work described will allow new varieties of these crops to contribute to the future priorities for grassland farmers in the UK. This project is based at IBERS, Aberystwyth, a world leading centre for plant breeding of forage grasses and clovers. It draws on support from Germinal Holdings, IBER’s commercial partner in these breeding programmes, and also from the livestock sector’s levy boards.

Objectives  -  The project aims to exploit a range of conventional and molecular breeding strategies to develop new varieties of the two most important forage species associated with UK grasslands: perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) with higher intrinsic phosphorus use efficiencies (PUE) in terms of P acquisition, utilization and retention. The methods include identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and molecular markers for enhanced PUE, direct selection in low P soils and the incorporation of the relevant traits into genetic backgrounds conferring elite agronomic performance. The project also encompasses performance-testing with respect to P utilisation efficiency by livestock.

Specific objectives are, to:-

• Submit varieties of perennial ryegrass and white clover for testing, which will show significant improvements (at least 10%) over current varieties in terms of PUE over a range of soil P conditions.

• Increase understanding of the genetic control of key traits relating to PUE. Germplasm and markers will be put in place to allow further gains.

• Develop potential white clover varieties for use in low P status soils.

• Determine the suitability of white clover lines grown under low P conditions for the ruminant animal.

This work will benefit the dairy, sheep and beef sectors through the development of forage varieties to promote economic production with a lower environmental footprint. Varieties developed will be commercially available to all farmers and will allow significant financial savings through reduced fertiliser use, more efficient animal production and enhance the capability of grassland to reduce the environmental footprint of livestock systems with respect to pollution of water courses.