University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings XXII International Grassland Congress Technical Challenges in Evaluating Southern China’s Forage Germplasm Resources Changjun Bai Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, China Guodao Liu Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, China Yu Zhang Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, China Daogeng Yu Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, China Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/22/1-4/7 The XXII International Grassland Congress (Revitalising Grasslands to Sustain Our Communities) took place in Sydney, Australia from September 15 through September 19, 2013. Proceedings Editors: David L. Michalk, Geoffrey D. Millar, Warwick B. Badgery, and Kim M. Broadfoot Publisher: New South Wales Department of Primary Industry, Kite St., Orange New South Wales, Australia This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Germplasm preservation, domestication and use of native forage plants Technical challenges in evaluating southern China’s forage germplasm resources Bai Changjun, Liu Guodao, Zhang Yu and Yu Daogeng Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), Danzhou 571737, Hainan, People’s Republic of China Contact email: [email protected] Abstract. The present status of the collection, conservation and utilisation of the pasture germplasm in tropical and subtropical zones in China is reviewed. The Tropical Pasture Research Centre (TPRC) of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) has been engaged in this research since the 1940s. A low temperature gene bank, an in vitro plant library and a nursery station have been established. In total, 5890 indigenous fodder materials belonging to 478 species, 161 genera and 12 families have been surveyed and collected in South China; 1130 exotic materials belonging to 87 species, 42 genera of grasses and legumes have been introduced and conserved; 3769 materials from 301 species, 127 genera, 12 families have been conserved in the seed bank; 482 materials belonging to 6 species, 6 genera, 3 families have been propagated in vitro, and 388 materials belonging to 10 species, 8 genera, 3 families grown in the plant preservation nursery. Suggestions are made for developing and utilising southern Chinese grassland resources. Keywords: Forage germplasm resources, tropical and subtropical regions, assessment collection, conservation, utilisation. Introduction experiences good climatic conditions with enough heat and water to support good growth of forage plants throughout China’s tropical and subtropical regions are located the tropical and subtropical regions. Despite the degrade- between 15° to 33°N and 100° to 125°E. The region has ation resulting from fire, overgrazing, the cutting of 121m people, 13% of the total population in China (Liu vegetation for fuel and use as a source of organic matter 2008) and covers 260 million ha, including the entire area input for cropland, forage germplasm remains a valuable of the Provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Hunan resource. This paper reviews the scale of forage plant and Fujian, most parts of Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiangxi, resources in southern China, the programs to identify, Zhejiang and Sichuan, the southern area of Hubei and evaluate and utilise these forages and concludes with a Anhui; and small districts of south-east Tibet and south- discussion of current issues and solutions. west Jiangsu Province. The tropical area accounts for 5% of the south China zone, predominantly in the southern district Surveys of tropical and subtropical forage of Guangdong (Leizhou Peninsula) and all of Hainan genetic resources Province. Arable land occupies 28 million ha (10.7% of the region) forests 90 million ha (34.6%) and grasslands 79 In the past 50 years, 6707 forage and feed plant species million ha (30.4%). belonging to 1545 genera in 246 families were surveyed. In This is a warm climate area with plentiful rainfall 1978-1990, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science without an obvious winter and separate wet (generally from (CAAS) collected 4125 species of the original and natural May to October) and dry seasons. The average annual forages for possible cultivation and breeding, belonging to rainfall is 1200-2500 mm, the average temperature is 20 - 879 genera within 127 families; 972 species from 173 grass 26°C and the accumulated temperature above 10°C is genera and 646 species from 81 legume genera. The species 7900°Cdays. It is more mountainous in northern and came from Hainan (1067) Guangdong (482) Yunnan (698) western areas with upland and river plain topography in the Guizhou (1400) Sichuan (232) Jiangxi (733) Anhui (255) coastal areas of the southeast. The mountainous and upland and Hubei (931). In 1980, the National Grassland Survey area covers more than 30% in this region and is not suitable identified more than 1000 species belonging to 190 grass for other cash crops except forage system production. genera and 791 species belonging to 120 legume genera on Forage plant resources are abundant in cleared areas. The natural grassland areas of the southern 14 provinces (see current status of vegetation is secondary forest (coniferous, references on Flora of Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and broad-leaf, shrub-land and coppiced forests) grassland and Yunnan). In south China, there are 4680 known forage agricultural land. The grasslands includes savanna, species (Table 1) among which Angiosperms are the shrubland, coppice forest and arable land sown with exotic biggest category, mostly Dicotyledons (240 families) and legumes and grasses. Most of the grasslands are distributed Monocotyledons (22 families). The most highly regarded in small areas belonging to smallholder farmers where there forage plant resources in south China include 687 species, is a potential for forage intercropping with cash-crops, principally 364 grass species and 87 legume species. rubber and fruit plantations. Most of south China Among these indigenous species, 354 species are unique © 2013 Proceedings of the 22nd International Grassland Congress 359 Bai Changjun et al. Table 1. Composition of indigenous forage and feeding plant in south China. Category Family Proportion of total Genera Proportion of total Species Proportion of family genera total species Fern 14 5.3 31 2.3 46 1.0 Gymnosperm 8 3.1 16 1.2 63 1.4 Angiosperm 240 91.6 1303 96.2 4571 97.7 dicotyledon 218 83.2 1068 79.1 3704 79.2 monocotyledon 22 8.4 235 47.4 567 18.5 Total 262 100.0 1350 100.0 4680 100.0 Table 2. The category of forages and feeding resources in map reference) registration numbers, collector etc. The south China. investigation of indigenous forages uses four stages: field Category of forage resource Family Genera Species investigation including visiting local farmers; data Indigenous species 123 587 1432 descriptors of forages; planting in greenhouse, reproduct- Peculiar species 85 128 354 ion, vegetative multiplication and preliminary evaluation; Rare and endangered species 53 120 152 and field investigations. Collection and investigation Productive species 25 243 687 processes overlap. Sites for collection will sometimes be based on experience or every 30-50 km along accessible forage plant species, including 67 grass species and 45 roads or tracks. Collectors aim to obtain mature seeds legume species (Table 2), some are used for livestock where possible, or else tillers, stems, seedlings, tubers or production (Wu 1961; Liu 2000). other propagule material. Where exotic forage genetic The variable topography and climate in Hainan Island resources are introduced, the aims are to obtain similar has produced the most tropical species within the rich flora levels of background information and to maintain bio- in China, 25000 species of higher plants. CAAS first security. surveyed the original and indigenous forage plant resources in 1983, and recorded 119 species (Li 2000; Shi et.al Reproduction 2008). Hainan provincial research units then surveyed forage resources in 1986 and recorded 567 species. The number of seeds collected in the field is usually limited Subsequently CATAS in Hainan recorded 1048 forage and hence there is the need to produce enough seeds for the plant species in 1993. 242 species of grasses genera were conservation and further evaluation of material. Repro- investigated and details recorded including morphological duction is done in the green or shade house or in the field. characteristics, habitat and eco-geographic distribution Seeds will be treated to enhance germination as while seed during 2004 to 2009. Some of these forage germplasm dormancy may be low some groups have hard seed. resources are species introduced from outside Hainan (Wu Legumes and grasses are sometimes propagated 1961; Flora of Guangdong 2007; Flora of Yunnan 2003; vegetatively. Flora of Fujian 1995; Liu 2000; Yin 2008). Conservation Forage germplasm resource exploitation is based on collection and effective conservation as part of a long-term The storage of seeds is the more efficient way to conserve strategy to identify, evaluate, and