Hydrocyanic acid or prussic acid poisoning of livestock by sorghums [Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moenchl and sudangrasses [Sorghum sudanese (Piper) StapfJ is caused by the digestive liberation of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) from the cyanogenic compound, dhurrin [(S)-p-hydroxymandelonitrile ,8-D-glucopyranosideI found in tissue of these plants. Recent research documented that dhurrin is also present in india...

Elephant grass is a tropical forage crop highly used in dairy cattle production, Brazil. It has been getting special attention, because of its bioenergy potential, medicinal properties, and bioremediation profile. The aim the present study to investigate effects thermotherapy based on clonal cleaning methods meristem culture mineral content elephant (Cenchrus purpureus (Schumach.) Morrone). Cul...

Session 4 Conventional and Novel Methodologies for Plant Improvement ABSTRACT Cultivar development in alfalfa relies on heterosis, that has been mainly exploited by intercrossing selected clones from diverse gemplasm sources; an alternative way was proposed, based on developing double cross cultivars obtained by crossing clones selected for self-sterility, propagated by somatic seed. A differen...

Current red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) breeding methods for quantitative traits consist almost entirely of recurrent phenotypic selection. In many species, improved cultivars have been achieved through hybrid breeding methods, especially for highly nonadditive traits. Hybrid methods have previously been studied and developed in red clover; inbreeding depression was a hindrance to the utilit...

Salinization, desertification, and soil nutrient deprivation are threatening the production of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in northern China. We have previously generated T0 transgenic alfalfa co-overexpressing Zygophyllum xanthoxylum ZxNHX and ZxVP1-1 genes with enhanced salt and drought tolerance. To further develop this excellent breeding material into the new forage cultivar, stress tolera...

'Surrey' ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) has produced well in clipping yield trials across Louisiana, but yield trials do not always predict how well the forage supports performance under grazing conditions. This trial compared Surrey ryegrass with 'Marshall' ryegrass grazed continuously or rotationally. Two pastures of Surrey and two pastures of Marshall that had been subdivided into six pa...

BACKGROUND Paspalum dilatatum Poir. (common name dallisgrass) is a native grass species of South America, with special relevance to dairy and red meat production. P. dilatatum exhibits higher forage quality than other C4 forage grasses and is tolerant to frost and water stress. This species is predominantly cultivated in an apomictic monoculture, with an inherent high risk that biotic and abiot...

This study aims to evaluate the morphogenetic characteristics of three cultivars of Brachiaria brizantha subjected to nitrogen fertilization. The design was a randomized block in factorial arrangement 4x3; three cultivars of B. brizantha - Marandu, Piatã, Xaraés and four nitrogen levels - 0, 80, 160 and 240 kg/ha, with three replications. The experimental units consisted of plastic pots filled ...

The main water-soluble carbohydrates in temperate forage grasses are polymeric fructans. Fructans consist of fructose chains of various chain lengths attached to sucrose as a core molecule. In grasses, fructans are a complex mixture of a large number of isomeric oligomers with a degree of polymerisation ranging from 3 to >100. Accurate monitoring and unambiguous peak identification requires chr...

Production of high quality seeds is of fundamental importance for successful crop production. However, knowledge of the effects of increased temperature resulting from global warming on seed quality of alpine species is limited. We investigated the effect of maternal environment on seed quality of three cultivars of the leguminous forage species Vicia sativa, giving particular attention to temp...