Maximising the value of commercial forage grass seed production

Germinal Holdings Ltd (GHL) have built a reputation on delivering to market quality forage crops which meet the needs of livestock and dairy farmers in the quest for environmentally sustainable intensification of production and profit from their farms. GHL varieties are the products of cutting edge innovation in forage science for the benefit of the livestcock industry. Seed yield of the varieties is a major factor on the commercial success of a variety and can infleunce the economic return from the variety and its longevity as well as its potential for marketing in other countries. The focus of this project is tackling commercial seed production costs of future forage grass varieties to ensure there is a profit margin to be made from each and every product, and to build resilience and efficacy in the GHL business model. This will be achieved through the development of genomic selection (GS) capabilities for seed yield by means of a novel accelerated breeding approach (called PReSS gang) developed by IBERS, Aberystwyth University. Not only will the outcome of robust seed production have direct benefit to the company, the proof of the PReSS gang approach will halve the expected return on investment time to bring any future innovations to market.