Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most important forage and turf grass species of temperate regions worldwide, and its main role is to provide feed to livestock. The economic value of perennial ryegrass is measured by its end products such as meat and milk. As an allogamous species, breeding activities have been carried out to improve the population and develop synthetic varieties. This does not fully exploit the potential of heterosis, however. Hybrid breeding is an alternative strategy and provides opportunities to fully exploit the genetically available heterosis in perennial ryegrass for the development of improved varieties.

During his PhD studies, Mohammad Shofiqul Islam studied the feasibility of developing novel hybrid breeding schemes based on cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems in perennial ryegrass. He successfully completed the assembly and annotation of a male-fertile perennial ryegrass mitochondrial genome, and identified candidate genes responsible for the CMS phenotype by comparing male-fertile and male-sterile mitochondrial genomes.

His findings constitute a good basis for continuing research to produce hybrid grass varieties to address the future needs of sustainable livestock production.