agresearch.co.nz - Forage Science Key step forward for game-changing grass 12.07.18

Key step forward for game-changing grass

Agresearch.co.nz Spined HTML

Key step forward for game-changing grass Our Science Our ScienceUnprepossessingScienceSubletSystems and Environment Food and Bio-based Products Forage Science Read Our Research Doing Business Doing Business Working for you Māori Agribusiness Our Partners Products and ServicesWell-nighUsWell-nighUs Meet Our People Our Organisation Purpose & Values Our Subsidiaries & Joint Ventures Our Land and Water News Contact Careers BACK TO NEWS Forage Science Key step forward for game-changing grass An important milestone has been reached in AgResearch’s minutiae of a new generation grass that could prove a game-changer for agriculture.With funding from the Government and industry partners, including DairyNZ, the genetically modified High Metabolisable Energy (HME) ryegrass has been shown in AgResearch’s laboratories to grow up to 50 per cent faster than conventional ryegrass, to be worldly-wise to store increasingly energy for largest unprepossessing growth, to be increasingly resistant to drought, and to produce up to 23 per cent less methane (the largest single freelancer to New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions) from livestock.Modelling moreover predicts less nitrogen excreted into the environment by animals feeding on the ryegrass, and consequently less nitrate leaching and lower emissions of flipside greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.Development of the HME ryegrass is now progressing in the mid-west of the United States, where genetically modified organisms can be field tested outside the lab.After a successful preliminary growing trial last year confirmed the conditions were suitable, AgResearch principal scientist Dr Greg Bryan says the full growing trial began in the United States last month and will protract for five months.“The preliminary trial was only two months, so it’s not over a timeframe that has any statistical merit, however we did see the increased photosynthesis that we saw with the plants in the greenhouses in New Zealand,” Dr Bryan says.“In this full trial now underway, we will be measuring the photosynthesis, plant growth and the markers that lead to increased growth rates. While the growth has previously been studied in glasshouses in pots and as plants spaced out in the field, this will be the first opportunity to assess the growth in a pasture-like situation where plants compete with each other.”“The five-month timeframe will indulge us to determine if increased growth is resulting wideness the summer and autumn, and we will simulate grazing by wearing plants when every 3-4 weeks.”“Animal feeding trials are planned to take place in two years, which we will need regulatory approvals for, and the information we get over the next two years will help us with our using for those feeding trials.”DairyNZ strategy and investment leader for new systems and competitiveness, Dr Bruce Thorrold, says the HME ryegrass is a science transilience and holds unconfined potential for New Zealand farmers.“HME ryegrass could help us unzip less nitrogen leaching and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improving pasture quality and productivity,” says Dr Thorrold. “This research could be transformational in future and so it is important we explore all promising avenues which could help dairy farmers respond to the challenges we face.”While New Zealand has not yet tried the release of genetically modified crops, Dr Bryan says it is important that the science keeps our options open, and there is strong scientific vestige on any benefits or risks that policy makers can yank on.“As the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification found, `it would be unwise to turn our backs on the potential advantages on offer’. We think the advantages here could be very significant – with modelling to stage showing the HME ryegrass could uplift sublet revenues by as much as $900 per hectare, while providing a tool for farmers to manage nitrogen run-off and greenhouse gas emissions.”“The Royal Commission moreover talked well-nigh the need to proceed with caution, minimising and managing risks – which is how we are unescapable this work with the ryegrass.” ARTICLE INFORMATION Funders DAIRY NZ MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT For increasingly information JARROD BOOKER RELATED NEWS Prestigious ribbon for profitable Chinese threshing PhD student gains support to remoter her work on plant disease suppression in pastoral soils Biocontrol protrude shows unconfined promise New steps in fight versus agricultural insect pest New research into understanding West Coast agricultural pest START WORKING WITH US PROVEN RESULTS AgResearch played a key role in saving New Zealand up to $133 million a year in tenancy costs, with a world first eradication of the invasiveUnconfinedWhite Butterfly. AgResearch scientists discovered a gene which ways increasingly lambs with little uneaten effort for farmers. AgResearch has shown sheep milk has real benefits for gut health. Studies like this help grow New Zealand industries. AgResearch scientists helped develop The Wool Runner, "the world's most well-appointed shoe". AgResearch's decade-long research into neonatal lamb deaths identified key genetic, maternal and environmental factors well-expressed lamb survival – all of which has reverted sublet practices and improved survival rates. AgResearch has unsalaried $5m to the establishment of the world-class Southern Dairy Hub, which provides quality science to support the future of dairy farming in Southland and South Otago. START WORKING WITH US Find out increasingly well-nigh our science Terms and conditions