Past lessons and future prospects: Plant breeding for cool temperate pastures

Abstract

The combination of art and science that has underpinned plant breeding is under pressure to deliver plants with increased productivity as well as new traits to address environmental concerns. In order to make the necessary advances for dairy pastures, a step change in progress is required. This will necessitate a change in approach at many levels, including an emphasis on scientific thinking and appropriate funding. This paper reexamines past breeding programmes with the aim of identifying approaches which might enhance the likelihood of future success. It then suggests how the lessons from the past can be used to re-consider pasture persistence and potential impacts of new genetic traits in the environment on the basis of fitness