Pasture partners work wonders

No change to cow numbers; no extra inputs; everything else stays the same, but from one year to the next, performance takes off.

Now, in place of cows, think ryegrass. Could one thing be altered that would make such a big difference? As Barenbrug pasture systems manager Blair Cotching explains, the answer is yes.

It’s all to do with the amazing world of ryegrass endophytes, where a great marriage between microscopic fungi and their host plant can work wonders, he says.

For organisms so tiny they’re invisible to the naked eye, endophytes are super powerful.

Hidden inside ryegrass, they’re nature’s insect repellent, discouraging predators and helping grass persist and perform for longer.

“That was all well and good, until scientists discovered the original wild ryegrass endophyte is not great for animal health,” Cotching says.

“So began the challenge that continues to this day – finding better endophytes for animals, without losing that natural pest protection.”

New Zealand leads the world in this research. It’s complex, exciting and for Barenbrug, an obsession.

“For 35 years, we’ve worked to discover new endophytes; test them for insect protection and animal health; match them up with the right ryegrass and make them available to help farmers get more out of their pastures,” he says.

There’s no rushing this work. It’s painfully slow, and the company has experienced many more dead-ends, frustrations, and failures than successes, Cotching says.

So why does it keep trying? Because when a great endophyte gels with a great ryegrass, the results are eye-popping.

“Pairing our newest endophyte NEA12 with Shogun hybrid ryegrass, for example, created a super-charged pasture that grows 8% more than Shogun with its original endophyte NEA.

“On average, genetic gain in ryegrass advances at about 1% a year. So, getting the right marriage between endophyte and ryegrass in this case gave the same gain as eight years of plant breeding, in one hit.”

Picture a tripod. One leg is the ryegrass itself. The second is the endophyte. The third is the way they work as a team. One weak leg, and the tripod falls.

Of all the things Barenbrug has learned about endophyte recently, this is the most important.

“The more we research endophytes, the more we realise that the marriage between endophytes and their host ryegrass is as important as each is individually,” Blair says. “Simply combining a great endophyte and a great ryegrass does not guarantee a great result.”

Researchers must make sure they get along. The same endophyte can pair up beautifully with one ryegrass but rub another completely the wrong way. The only way to find compatibility is to mix and match, then test different combinations, over multiple years, and locations.

Successful combinations are rare and finding them is a massive numbers game./p>

Since releasing its first endophyte in 1999, the company has identified, isolated, and genotyped over 400 individual endophytes. Only a handful have proved worthy of release, creating powerful synergies with Barenbrug ryegrasses.

“We’re not trying to make farmers’ lives complicated by releasing new endophytes. But creating the best possible pastures increasingly requires great endophyte/ ryegrass partnerships. And you can’t achieve these using just one endophyte,” says Cotching.

Shogun NEA12 is available this autumn.