b'FESTULOLIUM,THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDSHOW A CROSS BETWEEN TWO GRASSES CAN FILL A NICHEBY: MARCEL BRUINSF estuca and Lolium are two of the most val- the chromosomal contributions from each parent. uable grass genera, which both have comple- In all cases, it usually takes several generations mentary characteristics that are regardedbefore genetics have stabilized and a uniform as very useful agronomic attributes. In general,population has been selected. During this process Lolium species, mainly represented by L. mul- the stability is monitored both phenotypically and tiflorum (Italian or annual ryegrass) and L. per- genotypically using an array of molecular markers. enne (perennial ryegrass), are known for theirSo, development time for Festulolium may easily palatability, digestibility and rapid establishment.extend to 20 years, which is more than double of However, these Lolium species are generally lessthe ordinary breeding scheme for grasses.tolerant to abiotic stresses, and this is one of theIn regard to the characteristics the breeder beneficial features of Festuca species such asis looking for in each parental species, Mathieu F. arundinacea (tall fescue) and F. pratensisWident, head of forage research at DLF, says theVladimir, DLF(meadow fescue). The great advantage is that bothparental species from the Festuca genus are gener-genera are biologically close enough to hybridize,ally interesting for their persistency and tolerance and plant breeders have been able to produceto biotic (disease resistance), abiotic (drought, hybrids of Festuca and Lolium species, calledexcess of water, salt tolerance) stresses and their Festulolium, which combine their complementaryextensive root development. The Lolium side characteristics.is interesting for feeding quality, speed of estab-lishment, regrowth and its yield potential over CHALLENGES WITH AN the season. Advantage in seed production can be INTERGENERIC SPECIES inherited from both.Brent Stirling, general manager sales at CropmarkLukas Wolters from DSV Zaden says he alsoBrent Stirling,Seeds, says the biggest challenge is to define thebelieves the main problem is to get a good seedCropmark Seedscross itself agronomically. Where Cropmark Seedssetting with fertile seeds of the offspring in a has for example crossed F. pratensis with L. multi- Festulolium and to keep the stability on the pro-florum where one parent is perennial i.e. F. praten- duction as it is in the description of the new variety. sis and the other not i.e. L. multiflorumthe crossFrom the Festuca side, Wolters says they are look-may swing towards annual or perennial types.ing for high dry matter yield potential and biotic Vladimir, DLF breeding manager,stress resistance components and from the Lolium says when creating new Festulolium varieties,side, where they want high feeding value, persis-a breeder has the choice between working withtency and palatability.existing Festuloliums and combine them to createLooking more specifically to the use of grass something new or try to generate new hybrids byon the outhern hemisphere, Stirling lists the fol-crossing the parental species.lowing criteria that their breeders look for in theMathieu Wident, DLF In the first case, the difficulty is to work withvarious species:a source of material that shows limited variabil-From F. arundinacea: Very strong root ity, says. In the second case, there aresystem, strong drought tolerance, strong tolerance several barriers to cross before a successful can- to waterlogging and a strong tolerance to saline didate has been made. He states the first barriersoil conditionsis inbreeding. Although compatible to a certain From F. pratensis: A very useful novel extent, the two parents are morphologically dif- endophyte strain providing resistance or toler-ferent and seldom synchronous in heading. Theance to root and top feeding insects such as soil second is that only in few cases the parents arenematodes, aphids, Coleoptera e.g. Scarbaeoidae of same ploidy. Creating crosses between species& Curulionidae, field crickets, porina caterpillar on different ploidy level will both impact the fer- etc., an improved root structure, improved animalLukas Wolters, DSV Zaden tility of the offspring as well as the stabilization ofpalatability right up until late seed head formation 40IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'