Day 7 IBERS

Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS)
We looked the Oat & Legume breeding facility with the plant breeders. The program was designed to enhance Welsh food security through crop breeding, increase self sufficiency & to breed better legumes to decrease the reliance of nitrogen fertilizers.
They are doing a lot of work on White clover as it is the most important temperate pasture species. The breeding goals are to increase N production efficiency, Increase yield with particular aim of increasing DM %, Winter hardiness, Seed yield, Early spring growth & Compatibility with grasses.
They are also breeding other legumes to complete mixed pastures with different growth patterns which will deliver good yields over a longer season. These include Caucasian & Red Clover, Trefoil. The current red clovers are producing excellent yields of 15t/Ha, but they have a very small growing point or crown which can be a problem if over grazed.
The Oat breeding program is working with both Winter & Spring Oats which can be either Husked or Naked. 80% of the Oat varieties are bred here and have the prefix of “Aber”, after the local town Aberystwyth. They are breeding a couple of new lines which will go into Muesli Bars. Currently 750,000 tonnes are used in the UK for these bars.
The Naked Oat program is aimed at producing feed for the monogastric animals with protein levels similar to Wheat @ 11-13 % and with good amino acid profiles. A new variety has 14.5% protein, 13.6% oil and 16 Mj of total metabolizable energy.
They are also breeding grass species with a new line taking 12 years to be released. They are using new gene technology with genetic markers to select, P & N efficiency and drought resistance. Other traits that they are chasing include;
• High water soluble carbohydrate
• Increased palatability and digestibility
• Improved use of herbage nitrogen.
An interest side breeding objective is alcohol production with “Abermagic” producing 5000 litres/Ha/yr.