The aim of the Germinal project is to develop a ryegrass with increased lipid (fat) content to make the feed more energy dense, improving milk production in dairy cows and growth rates in beef and sheep.
It could also lower methane emissions.
By altering the proportions of fatty acids in grass forage it aims to enhance not only the health and performance of grazing animals but also the nutritional and quality characteristics of the dairy and meat produced – all in a natural and sustainable way.
An AgResearch spokesman says the Crown research institute is focused on its own work, which includes field trials in the United States, and is cautiously optimistic about its progress.
Germinal’s research partner is the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) in Wales, which allows it access to the institute’s research and to apply it to New Zealand conditions.
Germinal NZ general manager Sarah Gard says lipids – fats and oils – have roughly double the energy value of carbohydrates for the same weight.
“We’ve known for a long time that adding fats, up to a certain level, increases animal productivity. But non-pasture feed supplements are generally expensive, which can offset any gains in milksolids or revenue.
“However, if the pasture has higher concentrations of lipids the grazing animal naturally has a high intake without the need for supplements.
“Stock will get extra fats directly from the grass.”
Lipid is the most energy dense part of the grass plant so an increase in lipid content will add significantly more energy to the resulting forage.
Initial work found a wide variation in lipid content in ryegrasses, which allows breeders to improve populations and subsequently varieties for the trait.
Gard says Germinal hopes to breed ryegrass with a lipid concentration of 5% – double that found in existing varieties.
The benefits could extend beyond animal performance with lab tests indicating high-lipid grass can mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“The work being done at IBERS has shown that increasing the lipid content of grass reduces methane emissions from ruminant livestock by changing rumen fermentation patterns and breaking down protein more efficiently.
“We hope to extend this work in the near future by feeding sheep with high-lipid grass and then measuring how much methane they produce.”
Progress has been made on altering the profile and the first varieties are in official trials.
The project has been running for about 10 years and it is expected to be another five to 10 years before Germinal has a product suitable for NZ.
A major issue in increasing lipid content is developing a low-cost, quick, testing process for that can be used in a breeding programme.
The company is also looking at several other areas in ryegrass development, including reducing the nutrient requirement of grass and clover so plants make more efficient use of available nitrogen and phosphate, with less needing to be applied by farmers.
AgResearch said last year its development of a new generation, high metabolisable energy ryegrass is making steady progress with field trials of the genetically modified HME ryegrass in the US showing it performs well in controlled growing conditions.
Researchers from NZ will head back to the US this northern hemisphere spring to continue trials.
The project involves breeding novel traits into ryegrass cultivars that will best suit NZ growing conditions, with researchers also introducing genes with simpler genetic patterns, which will make future breeding programmes easier.
The goal of the US phase of the research is to do realistic rather than simulated animal nutrition studies so the potential environmental benefits, such as reduced methane emissions and reduced nitrogen excretion, can be properly evaluated.
