• To develop and implement a national uniform objective system for quality description of Australian fodder products, based on the needs and specifications of end-users, in order to facilitate effective marketing.

Background

Research 

Outcomes 

Agreement has been obtained between the major fodder testing laboratories on uniform analytical procedures to measure moisture, crude protein and metabolisable energy, and a set of recommended methods will now be distributed and implemented.

The sixteen hays fed to sheep covered a wide range of species and quality, with measured in vivo digestibility ranging from 49.7% to 68.7%. A financially viable mechanism has been recommended for the supply and distribution of these hay "standards" to approved laboratories.

A new grading system for hay quality, based on metabolisable energy and protein content, has also been produced and was adopted by AFIA at its Annual Conference in 1998. It has also been accepted by the National Agricultural Commodities Marketing Association (NACMA) as a trading standard.

Implications 

Buyers would get better value for money, and sellers would receive bonus payments for a higher quality product. 

• Provide an assessment of the extent, the nature and sources of support for the proposed R&D levy for the fodder industry and provide an analysis of the basis for this support and any reasons for opposition.
• Develop and implement a strategy for informing as wide a group of potential levy payers of the details of the scheme and provide them with an opportunity to comment on the scheme.
• Ensure that the industry organisations and other participants in the industry agree to the coverage and details of the supporting evidence

Background

The AFIA committee subsequently developed a proposal to fund a R&D program with a levy on fodder production. It was intended that the collection mechanism be a 3% levy on the wholesale sales of baling twine and net wrap.

This proposal was circulated in June 1996 to State based farmer representative bodies and the National Farmers’ Federation. This project is the culmination of the extensive consultation phase that followed.

Research 

Outcomes 

Implications 

• Mapping Australian fodder production patterns by defining volumes, location, nature, timing and quality of fodder produced, potentially for trade, and identifying major operators and organisations involved in production, trade and servicing.

Current Progress

A summary of this stage of research will be presented to the Australian Fodder Industry Association Conference in Adelaide on August 11, 1999.

• Generate new oat populations and 
• Identify selections with improved hay end-use characters based on breeding priorities identified by farmers and hay processors by 2000
• Promote F₅ and F₆ oat lines currently in the program to advanced trials and 
• Make a decision about cultivar release by 2000.

Current Progress

Fifty-three lines were promoted from the 1993 and 1994 International Quaker Oats Nursery to 1999 trials. The germplasm will be used as parental lines in the 1999 crossing program. The lines have combinations stem rust resistance, cereal cyst nematode (CCN) resistance, good plant colour, leafiness, and acceptable grain yield and grain quality.

Another 544 lines from the 1995 and 1996 International Quaker Oats Nursery were assessed for disease resistance and agronomic traits. Eighty-five lines were selected and will be sown in June 1999.

Evaluate Advanced Breeding Lines

The senior hay trial (32 entries) was sown at five South Australian locations and one Victorian location in 1998. Data were collected for stem and leaf rust resistance, CCN resistance, CCN tolerance, stem nematode tolerance, early vigour, maturity, dry matter yield, and hay quality. Four of the five promising lines from last year yielded from 1 to 9% better than Marloo. 88083-4 was the highest yielding of the five and was ranked third in the trial. A new breeding line, 93072-43, was the highest yielding line in the trial. The advanced line, 87103-109, had slightly better digestibility, metabolisable energy, and crude protein than Marloo. A decision about new releases will be made this year.

• Demonstrate improvement in the yield and quality of forage production in southern Australia.
• Introduce new legume germplasm suitable for high yielding, high quality forage production.
• Enhance export opportunities for fodder seeds through international liaison, with our collaborators in Sardinia & Portugal.

Current Progress

• Erect growth habit (particularly when ungrazed).
• Long growing period (late maturity and deep rooting potential)
• Tolerance of waterlogging.
• Tolerance of insects, fungal and virus diseases
• Broad soil adaptation
• High seed yield and low shedding.

• To develop an Enzyme-Linked-Immuno-Sorbent-Assay (ELISA) having a sensitivity of 100 parts per billion or better for screening fodder for corynetoxins.

Current Progress

One is a conventional competitive ELISA. The other is a novel ELISA that depends on strong surface adsorption properties of the CTs. The former ELISA has been shown to specifically detect not only the known CTs but also water soluble substances, likely to be closely related to the CTs. Their toxicity is not known. The other ELISA specifically detects only the known CTs. It has proven to have greater reliability and sensitivity and is the preferred method for analysis of CTs in fodder. 

Application of the assays depends on effective methods for extracting CTs from fodder. This is the current focus of the project. Alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol, are effective extractants, but the volumes required for extraction raise concerns with cost and safety. An aqueous extractant is preferred, but these also extract substances that interfere with the assay. A solution to this problem is being sought.

• To develop a commercial microbial inoculum for the preservation of hay and hay pellets that inhibits growth of spoilage fungi and thereby results in a superior product with a higher value in the market place. The inoculum will be available at a cost effective price and easy to use with little expenditure on application equipment. The product will potentially be available for export.

Current Progress

The potential benefits to farmers will be financial and a reduction in health risks. The hay industry production is estimated to be worth more than $750 million pa in Australia and exports of both hay (now more than 150,000 tonnes pa) and hay pellets is expanding rapidly, especially to Japan. These export markets require a superior product with good metabolisable energy and no fungal spoilage. The passage of hay through the tropics presents a hazard because the high humidity can stimulate fungal development in hay products that start the journey with no evidence of fungal spoilage. Quality assurance for this market is essential and the inoculant is designed to control the major cause of spoilage. It is difficult to quantify losses from spoilt hay but in some bad seasons some large producers lose up to half their lucerne crop during making and storing of hay. Although the inoculant has as yet only been tested on lucerne hay, because the fungal spoilage strains are likely to be common across crops the inoculant should be efficacious for different crops. Hay producers and users will benefit also because the amount of fungal and actinomycete spores released from the hay on handling and feeding will be reduced resulting in less possibility for farmers’ lung disease.

At this time, efficient inoculants that will have long shelf life and survival of the inoculum strains on the leaf especially under dry and hot conditions are being developed by Biocare. Field trials are in progress at the Gatton College farm of the University of Queensland to test the inoculant efficacy in different climatic conditions and with different biomass materials. The potential to use the inoculants for haylage and hay cube production is also being assessed.