Perennial forage grasses, from breeding to healthy ruminant feed

Abstract

Temperate forage grasses are the main components of grasslands occupying 40.5 % of the world?s terrestrial area and 30-40% of European agricultural area. They cover the land, providing a habitat and a source of food for domestic livestock, thus ensuring a supply of livestock products, with contributes to rural agricultural and economic development. Grasses are a natural food for ruminants. Rich in fibre, they provide the bulk necessary for good rumen function. Eaten at a sufficiently young stage, they are highly digestible and contain lot of energy. At this stage they also have high mineral and protein contents that cover a large part of animals? requirements. Grasslands usually produce the majority of the forage ingested by ruminant animals during grazing season. During winter housing grass hay and silage are often major parts of the staple diets. There are many improved grass genotypes in Serbia that share main characteristics: high yield and quality of dry matter within a target group of environments and in particular agricultural context. Beyond this common breeding goal there are vast of forage breeding programs as varied as the species upon which they are based and the breeders who develop and implement them. The intensification of forage production and utilization, especially during the second half of the twentieth century, led to a drastic reduction in the number of grass species in sown mixtures, as well as in permanent grasslands. Only a small number of species mainly the ryegrasses, timothy, cocksfoot and fescues are highly suited to intensive management. Moreover, in Europe from 1980 onwards, many forage systems were deintensified and wild or hardly selected species became more important in grasslands. Therefore, it is evident that importance of perennial grasses as animal feed will be increased in the future.Krmne trave umerenog klimata su glavne komponente travnjaka koji se prostiru na 40,5% svetskog kopna, odnosno na 30 do 40% poljoprivrednog zemljista u Evropi. Visegodisnje trave pokrivaju zemljiste, obezbedjujuci staniste i izvor hrane za domace zivotinje i na taj nacin unapredjuju stocarsku proizvodnju i doprinose ruralnom razvoju sa poljoprivrednog i ekonomskog aspekta. Trave su prirodna hrana za prezivare. Posto su bogate celulozom, obezbedjuju kabastu komponentu neophodnu za pravilnu funkciju rumena prezivara. Ako se konzumiraju u ranijoj fazi, visoko su svarljive i sadrze puno energije. U toj fazi takodje imaju visok nivo minerala i proteina sto zadovoljava veliki deo potreba domacih zivotinja. Travnjaci obicno produkuju veci deo krme konzumirane od strane prezivara tokom sezone ispase. Tokom cuvanja prezivara u stajama, seno i silaza od visegodisnjih trava su najbitniji deo obroka. Sve domace sorte visegodisnjih trava u Srbiji karakterisu visoki prinosi i kvalitet dobijene biomase u lokalnim agroekoloskim uslovima i u razlicitim sistemima iskoriscavanja. Pored ovih osobina koje predstavljaju esencijalne oplemenjivacke ciljeve postoji dosta razlicitih programa selekcije koji se razlikuju usled razlicitosti vrsta visegodisnjih trava i kriterijuma oplemenjivanja. Intenziviranje proizvodnje i iskoriscavanja krmnog bilja posebno tokom druge polovine 20. veka vodilo je drasticnom redukovanju broja vrsta trava u sejanim smesama kao i na prirodnim travnjacima. Samo je mali broj vrsta kao sto su ljuljevi, macji rep, jezevica i vijuci bio podesan za intenzivan nacin iskoriscavanja travnjaka. Medjutim od 1980 pa na ovamo u Evropi su mnogi sistemi proizvodnje krmnog bilja deintenzivirani, pa divlje i ostale vrste selekcionisanh visegodisnjih trava dobijaju na znacaju. Primetno je da ce zastupljenost travnjaka i znacaj visegodisnjih trava kao stocne hrane rasti u buducnosti rastom traznje za stocarskim proizvodima i rastom kupovne moci i standarda ljudskog drustva u celini. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 31057