Grass and legume breeding matching the future needs of European grassland farming

Abstract

Plant breeding can be pivotal to produce new grassland varieties with better adaptation to changes in seasonal pattern and increased variability of temperature, precipitation and length of the growing seasons as determined by climate change. Cultivation of legume species is expected to increase, and will make crop–livestock systems more sustainable and self-sufficient for feed proteins. In northern Europe, the higher temperatures and longer growing season will create opportunities for increasing yield, while in southern Europe greater drought tolerance and growth in the cool seasons will be indispensable to maintain crop yields. Greater intra- and interspecific diversity is recommended for grasslands in both regions. In the north, also broader genetic diversity, particularly in terms of adaptation pattern (response diversity), is needed, requiring pre-breeding to enlarge the gene pool by introgression of exotic, less adapted genetic resources as a first step. Genetic gain in forage crop breeding has been modest over time, and new breeding methods need to be implemented to speed up the development of new cultivars with proper adaptation to future climate conditions. Novel technologies such as genome-enabled selection and high-throughput phenotyping will play a major role in this context. They are rapidly evolving and increasingly adopted, albeit with technical challenges and a need for optimization of breeding schemes for optimal exploitation.