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  • © 2010

Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses

Part of the book series: Handbook of Plant Breeding (HBPB, volume 5)

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. The Role of Forage Crops in Multifunctional Agriculture

    • Dirk Reheul, Benny De Cauwer, Mathias Cougnon
    Pages 1-12
  3. Genetic Resources

    • Beat Boller, Stephanie L. Greene
    Pages 13-37
  4. Breeding Methods in Cross-Pollinated Species

    • Ulrich K. Posselt
    Pages 39-87
  5. Development and Application of Biotechnological and Molecular Genetic Tools

    • Roland Kölliker, Daniele Rosellini, Zeng-Yu Wang
    Pages 89-113
  6. Breeding Objectives in Forages

    • Michael D. Casler, Edzard van Santen
    Pages 115-136
  7. Breeding Objectives in Amenity Grasses

    • Sheena Duller, Daniel Thorogood, Stacy A. Bonos
    Pages 137-160
  8. Breeding for Grass Seed Yield

    • Birte Boelt, Bruno Studer
    Pages 161-174
  9. Control of Cultivar Release and Distribution

    • Trevor J. Gilliland
    Pages 175-199
  10. Future Developments and Uses

    • Joseph H. Bouton
    Pages 201-209
  11. Ryegrasses

    • Mervyn Humphreys, Ulf Feuerstein, Muriel Vandewalle, Joost Baert
    Pages 211-260
  12. Fescues

    • Odd Arne Rognli, Malay C. Saha, Suresh Bhamidimarri, Stefan van der Heijden
    Pages 261-292
  13. Festulolium

    • Marc Ghesquière, Michael W. Humphreys, Zbigniew Zwierzykowski
    Pages 288-311
  14. Cocksfoot

    • Yasuharu Sanada, Marie-Christine Gras, Edzard van Santen
    Pages 317-328
  15. Timothy

    • Hiroyuki Tamaki, Joost Baert, Petter Marum
    Pages 329-343
  16. Bluegrasses

    • David R. Huff
    Pages 345-379
  17. Minor Grass Species

    • Grzegorz Żurek, Magdalena Ševčíková
    Pages 381-394
  18. Alfalfa

    • Fabio Veronesi, E. Charles Brummer, Christian Huyghe
    Pages 395-437
  19. Red Clover

    • Beat Boller, Franz Xaver Schubiger, Roland Kölliker
    Pages 439-455
  20. White Clover

    • Michael T. Abberton, Athole H. Marshall
    Pages 457-476

About this book

Grassland farming in Europe was already established during the settlement of the rst farmers together with their domesticated animals after the last ice age. Since then, grassland provides the forage basis to feed ruminant animals for the p- duction of meat and milk. Depending on the ecological conditions and intensity of usage, various plant communities with different species developed, displaying a rich biodiversity. With the introduction of improved crop rotations at the end of the 16th century, grasses and legumes were also grown to an important extent as forage crops on arable land. In the last decades the importance of amenity grasses increased markedly, due to the demand of the society for new usages like landscape protection. Around 1900 interested farmers and academics identi ed the need for gra- land improvement through systematic selection and seed production. This marks the beginning of breeding and research in companies but also at universities and specialized research institutes. Plant collection started with many of the species that are still of importance today. The collected materials were grouped according to the intended use and some type of phenotypic selection was applied. Seed mul- plication of such populations was performed in pure stands and the harvested seed was marketed. Although the vegetative biomass and its quality are of utmost imp- tance in forage crop breeding, it is the seed yield potential which determines the commercial success of a new variety.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Zürich, Switzerland

    Beat Boller

  • Inst. Pflanzenzüchtung, Universität Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Ulrich K. Posselt

  • Dpto. di Biologia Vegetale e Biotecnologie Agroambientali, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Fabio Veronesi

About the editors

They are the acting (BB), past (UKP) and past-past (FV) chairman of the section ‘Fodder Crops and Amenity Grass Breeding’ of EUCARPIA, the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding.

Beat Boller is a clover and grass breeder at Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon in Zürich, a research station of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs. Between 1989 and 2009, he created and released 60 registered cultivars of 11 species, including red and white clover, ryegrasses, fescues, and cocksfoot, which are listed in many European countries. He also has wide experience in genetic resources of forages, having acted as chairman of the Forages Working Group of ECPGR between 2002 and 2007. Since 2008, he is President designate of EUCARPIA.

Ulrich K. Posselt is a research plant breeder and was head of the forage research group at the State Plant Breeding Institute of the University of Hohenheim until his retirement in 2008. His research activities were on the ryegrasses and mainly devoted to breeding methodology, disease resistance, application of biotechnological techniques and molecular tools. This lead to more than 50 scientific publications in reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He was involved in teaching forage crop breeding and training of Ph.D. and MS students.

Fabio Veronesi is professor of plant biotechnologies and chair of the MS degree in human feeding and nutrition sciences at University of Perugia., where he is also in charge of the PhD program in botany and agroenvironmental, animal and food biotechnologies. His research activities have been mainly devoted to forage plant breeding (with special emphasis for alfalfa), meiotic mutations, transformation technologies applied to alfalfa, germplasm collection, conservation and evaluation, environmental and human impacts of genetically engineered plants. This lead to more than 70 technical papers in reviewed journals.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access