Biotechnology in forage crops - capturing our potential

Biotechnology will play an essential role in the economic future of New Zealand and in maintaining the global competitiveness of our forage-based primary production. The genomics era has added a new dimension to cultivar development, with marker-assisted selection allowing more precise genome modifications during plant breeding, and plant transformation providing more direct and novel routes to cultivar improvement. The biggest impact will be the ability of researchers to consider genetic pathways and networks rather than working on "single gene fixes". Integral to functional genomics are the rapidly developing fields of proteomics and metanomics - all these skills are needed to make a complete biotechnology package. Genetics and plant breeding have made a huge contribution toward forage crop performance in pasture-based systems, and biotechnology will provide future innovations and opportunities. Several research groups worldwide are developing comprehensive genetic maps of white clover and perennial ryegrass and are linking these to functional analysis of sequence databases to identify agronomically important genes. For this approach to capture its full value, researchers will need to fully integrate functional genomics with genetics, biochemistry, plant biology, agronomy and farm system management. Strong mapping, gene discovery, functional genomics and transformation capabilities will allow high-throughput analysis of gene function and application in new cultivars, using marker-assisted breeding or in transgenic lines. These tools provide an exciting opportunity to tackle some of the challenges faced in optimising pasture-based farming systems. Keywords: biotechnology, functional genomics, gene discovery, marker-assisted selection, perennial ryegrass, plant breeding, transgenic, white clover