Genetic breakthrough on tropical grass could help develop climate-friendly cattle farms

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://blog.ciat.cgiar.org/genetic-breakthrough-on-tropical-grass-could-help-develop-climate-friendly-cattle-farms/

Genetic breakthrough on tropical grass could help develop climate-friendly cattle farms

by Sean Mattson | Apr 9, 2019

The discovery of genes responsible for asexual reproduction in a tropical grass may reduce negative impacts of cattle farming. The grass captures carbon, reduces gas emissions from soils, restores degraded land, and improves cattle health and productivity.

Cattle are a mainstay for many smallholders but their farms are often on degraded lands, which increases cattle’s impact on the environment and lowers their production of milk and meat. Researchers at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) have shown that Brachiaria grass species can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cattle and increase productivity – and breeding improved varieties can potentially augment the environmental and economic benefits.

But the breeding process is difficult, time-consuming and expensive. A breakthrough on Brachiaria’s complex genome may make breeding much more efficient, and potentially increase the speed with which new grasses begin benefiting cattle farmers and the environment.

Margaret Worthington, a geneticist at CIAT and the University of Arkansas, and colleagues created the first dense molecular map of B. humidicola, a robust and environmentally friendly forage grass. They also pinpointed the candidate genes for the plant’s asexual reproductive mechanism, which is a huge asset for plant breeders. The findings were published in January in BMC Genomics.

…

Brachiaria grasses have often been considered an “orphan crop,” due to a lack of investment in research, but their potential for making tropical farms more productive and better for the environment is well known among tropical forage specialists. One recent study found that B. humidicola was especially adept at reducing the nitrous oxide, a strong greenhouse gas, emitted from soil as result of cattle urine deposition. In addition, CIAT researchers have identified mechanisms that this tropical grass uses to efficiently acquire nutrients from soil.

…

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-5392-4

[msongs]

1. would be more efficient to quit eating cow corpses nt

[NNadir]

2. So many "breakthroughs," so little time.

I've been listening to "breakthroughs" here since 2002.

In 2002 the concentration of the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide was, on the week ending April 14, 2002, 375.14 ppm.

Yesterday, the measurement was 412.53 ppm at Mauna Loa.

This is the situation, and 16 years later, we're still talking "could." Something wrong with "is?"

If someone reads real scientific papers, rather than news releases suitable for uncritical regurgitation, one seldom sees the word "breakthrough."

A "breakthrough" for feeding cows, even on marginal land, has nothing, absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, nada to do with climate change.