New forage oat variety offers new grazing option
Published: October 24, 2007
Source : Australian Food News
Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries, Tim Mulherin, said the breeding program demonstrated how government and industry could work together to benefit Australian farmers.
Mr Mulherin said funding and field support from Heritage Seeds and Meat and Livestock Australia were integral to the oat breeding program.
In launching the variety developed at the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries' Leslie Research Station, Mr Mulherin said that Genie's high yield, rust resistance and late season production made it an ideal forage crop for autumn, winter and early summer grazing in Queensland and NSW.
"In DPI&Fs' forage oat trials, Genie has consistently yielded 10-15 per cent more than current commercial varieties,'' Mr Mulherin said.
"Genie will be available to farmers through the Department's commercial research and development partner, Heritage Seeds, next year.
"This release will improve the range of commercial cultivars of forage oats available to livestock producers, and will contribute towards improving the productivity of dryland grazing systems for cattle and sheep."
Mr Mulherin said forage oats were crucial to the grazing industries in Queensland and New South Wales.
"Forage oats are the main source of feed during the winter months for many farming operations and farmers often rely on forage oats for finishing livestock during this period," Mr Mulherin said.
"Over 450,000 ha of forage oats are planted each year in Queensland and northern New South Wales and the benefit to grazing industries has been estimated at $120 million annually."
Heritage Seeds CEO, Jim McDonald, said one of the keys to the release was that Genie had been developed and bred in Australia, for Australian conditions.
"Farmers know that trials have been conducted in their own regions, under true local conditions. This gives them confidence to invest in the variety.
"With the current tough conditions for farmers in Queensland and right across Australia, it is important for farmers to know that the commitment to on-going research and development for new crops and pasture varieties continues despite the pressure on the rural sector,'' Mr McDonald said.
"We need to continue to plan for the future, and provide our farmers and overall agricultural sector with new technology and options for profitable production."
DPI&F forage oat breeder, Bruce Winter from Leslie Research Centre, said Genie's high yield had been consistent in both higher rainfall areas and under tougher low rainfall conditions, adding that because the varieties are bred locally, they are well adapted to local growing conditions and so perform very well.
"A key trait of Genie is its high levels of resistance to leaf rust.
"Leaf rust is the most serious disease of forage oats in northern Australia, reducing forage yield and quality. Crop losses have been estimated in excess of $35 million annually when the disease is present."
Mr Winter said leaf rust could be a very aggressive disease in wetter seasons, and it had readily overcome the single resistance genes present in many forage oat varieties.
"At Leslie Research Centre, we have taken a variety of different approaches to breeding for disease resistance. Our goal is to release varieties with durable resistance that will not succumb to evolving races of leaf rust.
"Genie has a high level of resistance that will prevent yield loss in most situations," Mr Winter said.
The breeding program also tests advanced lines for grazing acceptance and forage quality traits such as protein content, sugar content and digestibility which have a significant influence on cattle live weight gains.
During the next few years, Mr Winter said the project team would introduce rust-resistant lines from North America to strengthen the Queensland forage oats breeding program.
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