Open AccessCereal forage breeding for New Zealand agriculture
Author(s) -
Ross Hanson,
K. W. Armstrong,
John de Ruiter,
Andy Hay,
Gavin Milne
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
grassland research and practice series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2463-4751
pISSN - 0110-8581
DOI - 10.33584/rps.12.2006.3034
Subject(s) - forage , agronomy , silage , dry matter , pasture , crop , agriculture , arable land , biology , livestock , cultivar , agroforestry , ecology
Cereal forages provide both arable and livestock farmers with high yields of high quality dry matter to use as either standing or conserved strategic forage supplements where deficits occur when animal feed requirements exceed pasture growth. Crop & Food Research has breeding programmes for both single and multigrazing forage oats and triticales, and both green-chop and whole-crop silage forage oats, triticales and barleys. It also has an associated cereal forage management research and tech-transfer programme to ensure cereal forages achieve their potential under New Zealand's variable soil and climatic conditions. This has led to the development of new cereal forage cultivars, an increased understanding of their dry matter and quality development, and management support packages including a cereal silage booklet and maturity predictor for whole-crop cereal silage