www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Researchers are hoping to develop more nutritious pasture for the livestock
sector that is also drought tolerant and better able to fight off disease.
A multi-million dollar project by the Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative
Research Centre (CRC) is mapping the DNA of ryegrass and white clover, to
allow researchers to track naturally occurring traits like good root growth.

CRC spokesman doctor Kevin Smith says both the dairy and beef industries
have invested in the project.

"What we'd be hoping to see in a year like we've just had is that pastures
would have maintained productive growth for a longer period as the water was
running out, but particularly that the material which was there for animals
to eat was of a higher quality for longer as the pastures were drying off,"
he said.

"The quality of the pasture is one of the key drivers of the amount of
animal production you get per hectare."

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