Descrizione del progetto
Pascoli migliori per emissioni di metano basse a elevata produttività
Sviluppare nuove varietà di piante foraggere a supporto della produzione di latte e carne è fondamentale. L’elevata digeribilità del foraggio ha effetti positivi sulla produzione animale e può limitare le emissioni di metano, un obiettivo fondamentale della politica climatica dell’UE. Nonostante ciò, i miglioramenti nella digeribilità del loglio perenne (PRG) sono stati modesti a causa del suo lungo ciclo di coltivazione. Tuttavia, l’uso delle informazioni contenute nel DNA per stimare la digeribilità delle piante offre l’opportunità di ridurre il tempo impiegato per completare un ciclo di selezione di almeno cinque volte. Il progetto GenSPaD, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà e testerà approcci volti a utilizzare le informazioni del DNA per prevedere il valore nutrizionale nei programmi di coltivazione del foraggio.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculescarbohydrates
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureindustrial cropsfodder
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedscereals
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
R93 Carlow
Irlanda