Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8462 / SEEDWORLD.COM OCTOBER 2016 Julie Hansen, a senior research associ- ate at Cornell, led the effort to develop the potato leafhopper resistant variety, while Cornell research support specialist Jamie Crawford performed the hands- on breeding work on the alfalfa snout beetle-resistant variety. Viands notes Cornell’s alfalfa research team will continue to develop varieties with higher forage quality — “some- thing we’ve done pretty successfully in the past” — such as a recently released variety that was bred for higher levels of pectin concentration. Viands believes continued research into improved varieties of alfalfa and other forage crops is essential. “The broader implications on agri- culture revolve mostly around livestock producers, especially in the dairy indus- try, being able to economically produce forage for feed,” Viands says. “Higher forage yield and quality, combined with multiple disease and insect resistances, enable forage to be produced more economically, thus enhancing economic vitality of livestock operations.” SW NEW TALL FESCUE VARIETY Much of the talk in forage research these days revolves around new innovations in alfalfa, such as low-lignin varieties. But alfalfa isn’t the only forage crop where researchers are making headway in forging new, improved varieties. One example is the development of a new tall fescue variety that is nontoxic to grazing animals called Lacefield MaxQ II. It was developed by University of Kentucky plant breeder Tim Phillips through selections made from endophyte-free Kentucky 31 fescue and related lines. He named the variety for recently retired U.K. professor Garry Lacefield to honor his numerous contributions to the forage industry and to the college. Lacefield MaxQ II contains a novel endophytic fungus developed by AgResearch in New Zealand. This endophyte does not produce alkaloids that can cause fescue toxicosis, a disease that primarily affects cattle, but can also negatively impact pregnant mares and milk producing goats. The variety does have other active alkaloids that are beneficial and give it drought tolerance, insect resistance and help with vigor. “It has the persistence and performance of the endophyte found in Kentucky 31, but it doesn’t have the bad qualities of that endophyte,” Phillips says. “It’s the best of both worlds.” Lacefield MaxQ II has been trialed for 12 years in on-farm trials, university research farms, as well as at private farms in Kentucky and others from Michigan to Mississippi. Phillips says it has tested well in all locations for seedling vigor, high yield potential, grazing tolerance, live weight gains by stocker cattle and resistance to winter injury. Pennington Seed is increasing seed inventory and expected to make Lacefield MaxQ II commercially available in 2017. Phillips admits one of the marketing challenges could be convincing farmers to forgo their reliance on the decades-old forage Kentucky 31, which continues to dominate the tall grass fescue market, despite its adverse effects on grazing animals, for new and improved varieties like Lacefield MaxQ II. “We can improve the palatability, disease resistance, and all those other traits so they’re better than the older varieties, [but] when there’s not an interest in replacing something old with something new, then… there’s less incentive to keep improving varieties,” he says. Phillips maintains a different mindset is required for progress to proceed in tall grass fescue and other forage grasses. “Very few farmers would be growing a 50-year-old variety of alfalfa,” he adds. “If you look at alfalfa and corn and other crops, the new varieties are so superior to those that farmers’ grandparents were growing.” Donald Viands and Julie Hansen of Cornell University’s alfalfa plant breeding team inspect an alfalfa plant that was selected for high forage vigor, freedom of diseases and other agronomic traits. PHOTO: CORNELL UNIVERSITY.