Anthony Leddin
Meat and Livestock Australia Award Winner
Stopping grass growth under killer conditions
Maintaining perennial pastures for livestock production could become a major problem in southern Australia where climate change is tipped to bring hotter summers with increased storm activity.
Perennial grasses are the main feed source for Australian livestock, but summer rain can cause problems for some by stimulating them to grow when conditions are too hot for survival.
Anthony Leddin, a plant breeder from Valley Seeds in Victoria, aims to find new cultivars of perennial grasses that are better suited to Australia’s changing and more extreme climatic conditions. The grasses with the greatest chances of survival will have a summer dormancy trait that prevents growth at such times.
“While many of the temperate grass cultivars developed in Australia have some summer dormancy, recent research indicates that this dormancy is not strong enough to ensure survival for more than five years,” said Anthony.
“I will use my award to investigate grass cultivars from regions in North Africa, where the climate is similar to Australia, and screen them for complete summer dormancy.
“Without complete summer dormancy, the cultivars are unlikely to cope with the impacts of climate change.”
Anthony will grow the selected cultivars under controlled conditions that mimic a southern Australian summer and will use a recently developed screening method to examine the relationship between seed germination and photoperiod.
The results will be verified in the field.
“These new cultivars will help boost farm production by removing the need for regular re-sowing. They will survive in conditions the species previously could not tolerate and will allow livestock production to expand into increasingly marginal areas,” said Anthony.