J.B. HACKER, R.A. DATE and B.C. PENGELLY

ATFGRC, CSIRO Tropical Agriculture, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The Workshop, Forage Genetic Resources: Meeting the Requirements of Industry, was held near Brisbane on June 3–4, 1996. The Workshop was hosted by the Australian Tropical Forages Genetic Resource Centre and brought together ATFGRC scientists and their clients and stakeholders. Clients included scientists involved with cultivar development and representatives from funding agencies; and stakeholders included representatives from the grazing and pasture seeds industries, and ecologists and weeds specialists concerned with environmental issues.
Proceedings of the Workshop are summarised briefly and conclusions based on discussions between ATFGRC scientists and their clients are listed. There is a continuing need for the Centre and there are opportunities for development of further forage cultivars, especially for niche situations. The selection process in the future should pay greater attention to those attributes which are associated with the potential of forage plants to develop into weeds. This should reduce the likelihood of new cultivars developing into agricultural, amenity or environmental weeds.
Funding for further cultivar development is likely to be more readily available for research which combines off-shore and on-shore benefits, at least in the short to medium term. Another focus is likely to be in developing summer-growing ley legumes, to counteract fertility decline associated with cropping in the Australian tropics and subtropics.