15AGRITECHCAT4: Application of innovative plant breeding and phenotyping to reduce the nutrient requirement of forages to reduce the environmental....

多年生黑麦草和白三叶等饲料作物是英国家畜的主要饲料，也是可持续反刍动物生产的重要组成部分。草原覆盖了英国1100万公顷的土地，其中120万公顷是5年生的，每年重新种植32.5万公顷，种植各种牧草和豆类(Defra)。草地农业的重点一直是提高干物质产量、牧草品质和畜牧业产量。欧盟更严格的监管意味着英国草原部门现在面临着减少生产对环境的影响，同时提高生产和效率的问题。有效利用养分是高效草地管理的关键组成部分之一，氮(N)和磷(P)的应用是维持优质牧场生产力不可或缺的一部分。畜牧业农民正被鼓励从饲料中生产更多产品，而较难预测的化肥价格可能会增加成本。该项目将通过在NPPC内同时应用植物育种和基因组学技术以及增强的表观表现技术来解决提高草地农业可持续集约化的挑战，以提高多年生黑麦草和白三叶品种的养分利用效率。氮肥价格目前为GB 270/吨或78P/kg N。施氮量范围很广：标准范围为160公斤至204公斤N公顷/年，具体取决于载畜量、精料用量、肥料用量和饲用豆类作物的用量。通过有针对性的植物育种提高英国草地系统中N和P的利用率是一项重大挑战，但也为植物育种者提供了一个重要的机会。该项目将利用早期对多年生黑麦草和白三叶的研究成果，开发新的遗传资源和育种技术，使牧草养分利用效率得到提高，从而使多年生黑麦草和白三叶品种在单位干物质生产中需要较少的N和P，为初级生产者提供经济效益和环境效益。该项目将利用Aberystwyth大学(AU)的国家植物表型中心，在种子生产之前分析选择对单株NUE的影响，并在田间试验中进行评估，并通过优化的养分管理对结果进行验证。GHL将在该项目之外(完成后5年内)开发改良种质，以生产GHL在英国和海外销售的成品品种，潜在地将其品种的使用量增加10%(目前GHL供应英国10000吨饲料种子市场的30%)。

Forage crops such as perennial ryegrass and white clover are the major feed of UK livestock and an important component of sustainable ruminant production. Grassland covers 11million ha of the UK landmass of which 1.2million ha is <5 years old, with 325,000ha resown annually with varieties of forage grasses and legumes (Defra). The major emphasis of grassland agriculture has been on increasing dry matter yield, forage quality and animal production. Greater EU regulation means the UK grassland sector is now faced with reducing the environmental impact of production whilst simultaneously improving its production and efficiency. The effective use of nutrients is one of the key components of efficient grassland management, with the application of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) integral to maintaining the productivity of high quality swards. Livestock farmers are being encouraged to produce more from forage, while less predictable fertiliser prices, may act to increase costs. This project will address the challenge of increasing the sustainable intensification of grassland agriculture through applying plant breeding and genomics technologies in parallel with enhanced phenotying technologies, within the NPPC to improve the nutrient use efficiency of perennial ryegrass and white clover varieties.Fertiliser inputs to grassland depend upon system and management regime. Nitrogen prices are currently £270/t or 78p/kg N. Application rates range widely: a standard range would be 160kg to >204kg N ha/year depending upon stocking rate, concentrate use, manure application and use of forage legumes. Improving the use of N and P in UK grassland systems through targeted plant breeding is a major challenge but also presents a significant opportunity for plant breeders. This project will exploit outcomes of earlier research on perennial ryegrass and white clover that has developed novel genetic resources and breeding technologies that will enable selection for improved nutrient use efficiency in forages, leading to varieties of perennial ryegrass and white clover requiring less N and P per unit of dry matter production, providing an economic benefit to primary producers and environmental benefits. The project will use the National Plant Phenotyping Centre at Aberystwyth University (AU) to analyse the effect of selection on NUE on single plants prior to seed production and evaluation in field trials and validation of the outcomes through optimised nutrient management. The enhanced germplasm developed will be exploited beyond the project (within 5 years of completion) by Germinal Holdings Ltd. (GHL) to produce finished varieties marketed by GHL in UK and overseas, potentially increasing the use of their varieties by 10% (currently GHL supply 30% of UK forage seed market of 10000t).