Oregon, USA
February 18, 2025
Annual ryegrass is a remarkable cover crop. Its fibrous root system is excellent for loosening compacted soil and increasing organic matter. At the University of Kentucky, Dr. Lloyd Murdock demonstrated that annual ryegrass root exudates can degrade fragipans, an impermeable soil layer. Crops following annual ryegrass have shown increased drought resilience.
Early research conducted at GO Seed by Dr. Shannon Cappellazzi indicates that Lonestar and Tetrastar Annual Ryegrass root exudates may potentially increase soil pH by as much as one point. Despite the many benefits of annual ryegrass, some farmers hesitate to use it due to concerns over herbicide resistance.
One particularly important trait for increasing cover crop adoption is the ability to easily terminate it. Three years ago, we launched a breeding project to develop an annual ryegrass with fast establishment, strong seedling vigor, and rapid growth, while ensuring it remained highly susceptible to a widely used non-selective herbicide. This was a challenging task.
Breeding for herbicide resistance is much easier because the plants that survive the herbicide treatment are the ones selected for future generations. Breeding for herbicide susceptibility, on the other hand, requires selecting plants that die—which presents an obvious challenge.
Breeding dead plants is impossible—unless there’s a trick we don’t know about. To overcome this, we used a technique called clonal propagation while simultaneously selecting for herbicide susceptibility, fast establishment, strong seedling vigor, and early growth. Now, in its third generation, this breeding line exhibits all the desired traits.
We are actively advancing this material through the breeding pipeline. Stay tuned for future updates on this exciting new product.
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