Descripción del proyecto
Mayor productividad y menores emisiones de metano gracias a unos pastizales mejores
El desarrollo de nuevas variedades de plantas forrajeras que favorezcan la producción láctea y cárnica es fundamental. Una mayor digestibilidad del forraje tiene efectos positivos en la producción animal y puede limitar las emisiones de metano, un objetivo clave de la política climática de la Unión Europea. A pesar de esto, la mejora de la digestibilidad del ballico perenne ha sido modesta debido a su largo ciclo de selección. Con todo, el uso de información genética para cuantificar la digestibilidad de una planta constituye una oportunidad para reducir, por lo menos en un factor de cinco, el tiempo necesario para completar un ciclo de selección. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos GenSPaD desarrollará y evaluará métodos para emplear información genética para predecir el valor nutritivo de los programas de mejora genética de forrajes.
Objetivo
Breeding for improved perennial ryegrass (PRG) cultivars to support pastoral based production systems for milk and meat is a critically important goal. However, genetic gains for traits such as forage yield and quality have very much lagged behind genetic gain for agronomic traits in cereals. One reason for this is the long breeding cycle in a typical PRG breeding programme, where a single cycle of selection can take 5-6 years. Genomic selection (GS) is a form of marker assisted selection that simultaneously estimates all loci, haplotype, or marker effects across the entire genome to calculate Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs). The main advantage that GS could offer PRG breeding is to enable multiple cycles of selection to be achieved in the same time it takes to do a single cycle of conventional selection, thereby increasing the rate of genetic gain. Improving digestibility of the forage leads to an increase in animal performance, and is therefore an important target trait for forage breeders. Furthermore, it has already been shown that increases in organic matter digestibility can reduce methane emissions. Reducing methane emissions is a key target of the EUs climate and energy policy. In this action I will focus on developing and validating GS equations for feed parameters that are being used as model inputs into the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS). This CNCPS is currently being adapted to predict nutritional value to the grazing animal in pasture based production systems, and it is envisaged that it will be able to identify feed parameters limiting milk-solid production and thereby direct future forage breeding efforts. The work of this action will lead to a novel and innovative forage breeding programme that can select for multiple feed parameters to develop the ideal forage cultivars for pasture production systems.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculescarbohydrates
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureindustrial cropsfodder
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedscereals
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
R93 Carlow
Irlanda