Highgrass: How high can we get high-yielding and winter hardy perennial ryegrass cultivars for higher latitudes

Comparing to other temperate fodder grass species, perennial ryegrass specie is superior in yield, regrowth after harvest and fodder quality. Unfortunately, it is also one of the least winter-strong fodder grass species, which limits the cultivation area in Norway. However, the consequences of climate change are expected to expand the cultivation area of ryegrass towards higher latitudes and more continental climates and increase the importance of this species to our Norwegian livestock. HighGrass project has formally started on January 1, 2022 and will run until Dec 31, 2025. The project will be carried out via a collaboration between the industry partners Graminor AS, Felleskjøper Agri SA and Strand Unikorn SA; and the research institutions NMBU; and farmer advisor Norsk Landbruksrådgiving; and international research institutions in Belgium and Denmark.
The primary objective of HighGrass project is to advance the development of persistent, high yielding, perennial ryegrass cultivars that possess higher feed quality and are better adapted to Nordic climate than existing cultivars. This main objective will be reached through several secondary objectives; (1) characterize the performance of ryegrass breeding material and cultivars (2X and 4X) under Norwegian field conditions. In this project, we will utilize ryegrass populations that have been developed though our Nordic project «Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) for pre breeding in perennial ryegrass». (2) Develop high throughput phenomic protocols for accurate prediction of dry matter yield, regrowth and feed quality measures in perennial ryegrass. (3) Quantify correlation of water-soluble carbohydrates with winter survival and feed quality. The project also designates specific working package to develop strategies for application of genomic tools (i.e., Genomic Selection – GS) in Graminor’s ryegrass breeding program.