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.