Breeding of temperate forage grasses is aimed at improving the economic and environmental sustainability of production from cattle and sheep. The primary objective is to ensure that forage can be the main source of feed for ruminants. This requires consistent production of herbage with a high feeding value, usually under nitrogen-limiting conditions. The most important traits affecting the feeding value of herbage are in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD), the ratios of crude protein, water-soluble carbohydrate and fibre, and the concentration of alkaloid toxins. Improvements in these primary quality traits must be combined with good plant persistency, adequate tolerance to a range of environmental stresses, adequate resistance to a large number of different pathogens and invertebrate pests, and adequate seed yield. Forage grasses also have considerable potential to produce material for refining, to provide protein extracts for feeding to monogastric animals and carbohydrate for fermentation into fuel or into feedstocks for other industries.

Progress in breeding perennial forage grasses for temperate agriculture

The potential utilization of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a cellulosic energy crop was evaluated as a component of a projected future national network of biorefineries designed to increase national reliance on renewable energy from American farms. Empirical data on yields of switchgrass from a network of experimental plots were coupled with data on switchgrass physiology and switchgrass breeding progress to provide reasonable expectations for rates of improvement over current yields. Historical breeding success with maize (Zea mays L.) was found to provide a reasonable model for projected linear rates of yield improvement of switchgrass based on documented progress to date. A physiologically based crop production model, ALMANAC, and an econometric model, POLYSYS, were utilized to estimate variability in switchgrass yield and resource utilization across the eastern two‐thirds of the United States. ALMANAC provided yield estimates across 27 regional soil types and 13 years of weather data to estimate variability in relative rates of production and water use between switchgrass and maize. Current and future yield projections were used with POLYSYS to forecast rates of adaptation and economic impacts on regional agricultural markets. Significant positive impacts on US markets, including significant increases in farm income and significant reduction in the need for government subsidies, were projected. This was based on expected technological progress in developing biorefineries that will significantly increase national energy self‐sufficiency by producing feed protein, transportation fuel, and electrical power from cellulosic feedstocks.

Projecting Yield and Utilization Potential of Switchgrass as an Energy Crop

During the past 50 yr, we have witnessed a revolution in the science of plant breeding, genetics, and cytology, and its impact on human lives (e.g., the Green Revolution). Because of increased productivity, breeding objectives evolved from predominantly improving yield to include greater quality and value-added traits. The discovery of the chemical nature of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), coupled with Mendelian genetics led to the refinement of quantitative genetics, the robust use of molecular markers, and transgenic crop plants. Cytogenetics elucidated the physical structure of chromosomes, aided trait and molecular mapping, and greatly enhanced the exploitation of genetic variation from wild relatives, as have transgenes and mutations. The fundamental process of selection has been improved by a better understanding of gene action, when to select, and better methods to select plants and analyze their relationship to the environments in which they grow. Single-seed descent plant breeding methods were popularized and evolved to doubled haploid breeding. Plant breeding, genetics, and cytology remain impact sciences that will continue to improve lives as part of the Evergreen Revolution.

/pdf/improving-lives-50-years-of-crop-breeding-genetics-and-1qsnx0ypbp.pdf

Improving Lives: 50 Years of Crop Breeding, Genetics, and Cytology (C‐1)

Referee: Dr. Ian Ray, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Department of Agronomy & Horticulture, New Mexico State University, MSC 3Q, P.O. Box 30003, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 Forage and turf grasses are the backbone of sustainable agriculture and contribute extensively to the world economy. They play a major role in providing high quality and economical meat, milk, and fiber products and are important in soil conservation, environmental protection, and outdoor recreation. Conventional breeding contributed substantially to the genetic improvement of forage and turf grasses in the last century. The relatively new developments in genetic manipulation of these species open up opportunities for incorporating cellular and molecular techniques into grass improvement programs. For some commonly used forage and turf species, significant advances have been achieved in the following areas: (1) establishment of a tissue culture basis for the efficient regeneration of fertile and genetically stable plants, (2) generation of...

Forage and Turf Grass Biotechnology

Smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss.), a native of central Eurasia, was introduced to Canada as a forage and hay crop around 1888. Early reports of plants escaped from cultivation appear in 1903, however, based on the number of collections prior to 1920, smooth brome spread more rapidly in western Canada. Smooth brome is common along roadsides, forest margins, clearings, shorelines and disturbed areas, but its most detrimental impact is on the diversity of prairies and native grasslands. In Riding Mountain National Park, MB, plant diversity of fescue prairies recently invaded by smooth brome decreased by 70%. Vegetative proliferation through underground rhizomes is key to the invasiveness of smooth brome, but long-range dispersal of seeds is facilitated by animals, wind and the transport of hay. Smooth brome is effectively controlled using selective applications of glyphosate and well-timed clipping. However, restoration of infested areas depends on the composition of native seed banks. Smooth brome remain...

The biology of Canadian weeds. 134. Bromus inermis Leyss

The first documentation of breeding smooth bromegrass was the single cycle of mass selection practiced by Since its introduction from Eurasia, smooth bromegrass (Bromus two Kansas farmers in the early 1900s to produce the inermis Leyss.) has become an important cool-season forage grass in cultivar Achenbach from “the tallest, best-filled, and North America. The objective of this study was to document breeding progress in smooth bromegrass between 1942 and 1995 in North Amer- lightest colored plants” (Vogel et al., 1996). Although ica. Thirty cultivars or experimental populations were tested at up to there were sporadic breeding efforts at several experiseven sites in the eastern and central USA, with a range of soil types ment stations in the 1910s and 1920s, formal breeding and climates. There have been small genetic changes in forage yield, did not begin in earnest until the late 1930s and early brown leafspot resistance [caused by Pyrenophora bromi (Died) 1940s. This coincided with the widespread value and Drechs.], in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and neutral deter- popularity of smooth bromegrass for revegetation of gent fiber (NDF) concentration. Brown leafspot resistance increased drought-damaged grasslands and marginal croplands gradually, averaging 0.21 units decade2 1 . Mean forage yield did not throughout the Great Plains and midwestern regions. change for cultivars developed after 1942, but was 0.54 Mg ha2 1 (7.2%) The initial breeding efforts in smooth bromegrass imhigher for the post-1942 group than in ‘Lincoln’, a direct representative provement capitalized largely on existing natural variaof smooth bromegrass introduced into North America. Selection for increased IVDMD led to an average increase in IVDMD o f9gk g 21 tion among introduced germplasm sources that had be(1.4%), an increase in forage yield of 0.33 Mg ha 21 (5.0%), and a come naturalized land races (Casler and Carlson, 1995). decrease in NDF of 2 8gk g 21 (21.2%) in the post-1942 group . The Many of the cultivars released in the 1940s consisted of slow rate of progress for smooth bromegrass forage yield is due to increases from seed production fields that had consisits complex polyploid inheritance, emphasis on traits other than forage tently given rise to high-yielding forage production yield, and relatively little concentrated attention from public and fields. Of these cultivars, Lincoln was the most widelyprivate breeders. grown, presumably due to its superior performance in regional trials (Thomas et al., 1958). Fifty-five years later, Lincoln remains the most widely grown smooth S

/pdf/genetic-progress-from-50-years-of-smooth-bromegrass-breeding-2e7ehwqeiu.pdf

Genetic Progress From 50 Years of Smooth Bromegrass Breeding

Breeding progress has been slow in smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss) since its introduction to North America. Much of the variability among cultivars appears to have arisen by natural selection and adaptive responses. The objective of this study was to determine if smooth bromegrass cultivars differ in latitudinal or longitudinal adaptation, as measured by forage yield, and if that variability relates to their breeding or selection history. The target region was defined as the Great Plains to the East Coast of the USA, from 38 to 47°N latitude. Twenty-nine cultivars and experimental populations were evaluated for forage yield at up to seven locations ranging from central to eastern USA. Populations were classified according to pooled population main effect and population × location interaction effect (G+GL deviations). Cluster analysis resulted in eight clusters that explained 90% of the variation among G+GL deviations. One cluster consisted of populations average in adaptation, four clusters consisted of populations that were largely unadapted across the entire region, and three clusters consisted of populations that were specifically adapted to the entire region or a large part thereof. Much of the grouping and adaptation characteristics could be explained by similar pedigrees, selection history, and selection location. However, the phenotypic similarity of some superior, but divergent-pedigree populations suggested that alleles for high and stable forage yield in smooth bromegrass probably exist in numerous germplasm sources. Despite a history of little to no gains in forage yield, these results suggest unrealized potential for future improvement of forage yield of smooth bromegrass across a broad geographic region.

/pdf/latitudinal-and-longitudinal-adaptation-of-smooth-bromegrass-3xj1br9tcg.pdf

Latitudinal and Longitudinal Adaptation of Smooth Bromegrass Populations

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

D. A. Miller

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Genetic Progress From 50 Years of Smooth Bromegrass Breeding

Latitudinal and Longitudinal Adaptation of Smooth Bromegrass Populations