44 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM Green cover headlands sown on potato and root vegetable crop headlands in the UK is proving a positive attraction for pol- linators, and helping to conserve valuable soil resources. Successful results from a 2016 pilot project of the Syngenta Operation Pollinator initiative, instigated and sup- ported exclusively by growers for the mul- tiple retailer, ASDA, now aims to plant up over 100 hectares of the specially selected Green Headland cover mix on more than 30 farms for the coming season. Headlands around potato and root vegetable fields are typically left uncropped, to aid management and har- vesting of the cropped field area. However, these bare soil areas are then danger- ously exposed to soil erosion or damage by headland-turning of heavy machinery. They often become a weed burden and have little or no ecological value. The Syngenta Operation Pollinator partnership with ASDA and its supply-arm, IPL, has worked with wildflower seed sup- SEED TREATMENT AND STEWARDSHIP Green Cover Proves Headland Attraction BELINDA BAILEY Environmental Initiatives Manager, UK and Eire • Syngenta pliers, Kings, to create a specific Green Headland seed mix. It is designed to be easily established with the crop, protect the soil structure and provide a valuable feeding and habitat resource for inverte- brates and other farmland biodiversity. Monitoring of the first year’s perfor- mance has revealed the great value of the flowering mixture for a wealth of insect life, along with the positive feedback of growers on the benefits of the mixture. Independent ecological assessment of invertebrate biodiversity, from one visit to each of the trial Green Headland areas, revealed over 11,000 insects col- lected and 140 different species. That included 41 species of pollinators; 29 species of known predators beneficial to crops and at least 118 species of potential food sources for game and other farmland bird chick rearing. Chris Brown, ASDA Senior Director of Sustainable Sourcing, highlighted the project demonstrated the good steward- ship of farmland by growers supplying the company’s stores and customers. He cited the project as a genuinely sustainable initiative that can offer a simple cost effective and time efficient solution to make better use of a hitherto unused area of land - to improve the envi- ronment and to protect the valuable soil resource. Furthermore, Adrian Baker, Farm Manager at F B Parrish & Son, based at Lodge Farm, Chicksands in Bedfordshire, reported one of the benefits of the cover crop used this year was how easy it was to establish. Soil protection is vitally impor- tant on the farm’s light greensands and he noted how the green cover was effective in reducing the risk of soil erosion during potato and onion crop irrigation. Interest in soil health and green cover crops has been building momen- tum for the last few years. Now growers can realise the significant potential such crops can bring to wider farmland bio- diversity. Grass breeding is not just about making grasses better; it is also about predict- ing the future. With a typical develop- ment time of 10-11 years plus 3-5 years in official testing before sale, you almost need supernatural skills to get off on the right foot. In this process, plant breeders are up against several challenges: •  First, they must prioritize, which traits are most important •  Second, the keyhole for seed sale in sev- eral countries is determined by recom- mended variety lists, in which traits are valuated differently •  Third, while focusing on performance, candidate varieties must fulfill the UPOV requirements of distinctiveness, uniformity and stability. This latter part can be a challenge in outbreeding grasses, which are bred as families of similar, but not identical individuals. Imagine that you take a snapshot of the genome in each of all your breeding lines. Once uploaded to your computer, you also add field data for each line. The computer then tries to find a pattern, which is always associated with high yield or any other important trait. Next time you make a new cross, you just take a snapshot of the offspring and asks the computer for a prediction on the various traits. No need to do field trialing, just trust the computer model and select the best. Such a scenario both speeds up plant breeding and allow you to spend resources on making crosses (more num- bers in game) rather than field trialing. This breeding technique is called “Genomic Selection” (GS), and today it is the oracle in our company’s forage ryegrass breeding program. Genome snap shooting is done by sequencing the genome at different posi- tions. The sequence variations, that can be found between breeding lines at all positions together, is used to make the prediction model. From this model, the plant breeder can predict the genetic potential of any new line. Prediction accuracy is determined by several factors: •  Snapshot resolution is important. In outbreeding grass, you need at least 250.000 positions (markers). • You need accurate field observations and data from multiple locations, if the prediction should cover several coun- tries. The more data you have, the higher the prediction accuracy. Every year the model is trained with new marker profiles and new field data. In this way, over time, you can also start predicting the performance of new candi- dates under different climate conditions. In the near future, we hope to be able to predict the outcome of a crossing, even before it is made. The future is drawn near, and it is highly recommended to have an oracle by your side when you wish to make a future top variety. TURF AND FORAGE New Grasses Delivered Straight From the Oracle KLAUS K. NIELSEN Chief Scientific Officer • DLF