Forage Improvement Division

Divisional faculty

Joe Bouton, Ph.D.,
Professor, Sr. Vice President and Division Director

Twain Butler, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor

Andy Hopkins, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor

Maria Monteros, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor

Malay Saha, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor

Zeng-yu Wang, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor

Carolyn Young, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor

About

Formed in 1997, the Forage Improvement Division translates basic plant science research into tangible plant varieties that can be used by agricultural producers in Oklahoma, North Texas and similar climate regions worldwide.

The division focuses on the development and improvement of grazeable and harvestable forages, including legumes and grasses. Forage Improvement researchers use a broad range of techniques to accomplish plant improvement, from conventional breeding to the use of emerging biotechnologies, such as genomics and transgenics.

Once improved varieties are successfully created, their performance is analyzed through extensive evaluations. The group also designs crop management plans to capitalize on the plant's value-added traits and performs animal grazing trials to assess the impact and safety of new traits. All evaluations and assessments of new varieties are conducted in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations.

While the focus of this group remains the improvement of a wide range of forages to support livestock production, its work will also positively impact the dairy industry and the emerging field of bioenergy. Research into sustainable and renewable feedstocks, mainly switchgrass, will contribute to the energy needs of this nation and offer new production opportunities for America's agricultural producers.

Together, these activities accomplish the division's mission to develop better forages through variety development and, in the process, advance the science of plant improvement.

In 2008, the Forage Improvement Division:

maintained seven primary Noble Foundation laboratories;

began commercial seed production and sales on two switchgrass cultivars under the Blade™ brand, EG1101 and EG1102;

entered into a license agreement with Grasslanz Innovations, Ltd. to commercialize and begin seed production of NFPDF 584 tall fescue;

continued research projects based on previously received external funding of $2.3 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, the state of Oklahoma (Consortium for Legume Research and Oklahoma Bioenergy Center), Ceres, Inc., and Forage Genetics International;

published 25 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals, including Agronomy Journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Bioenergy Research, Crop Science, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology, Journal Plant Registrations, Molecular Breeding, Phytopathology and Planta; and

received $914,417 in new external funding from both public and private sources.

Kolliker, R., Rosellini, D., & Wang, Z. Y. (2009). Development and application of biotechnological and molecular genetic tools. In B. Boller, U. Posselt, F. Veronesi (Eds.) , Handbook of Plant Breeding: Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses. .

Biermacher, J., Reuter, R. R., Cook, B. J., Islam, M. A., Hopkins, A., Bouton, J. H., & Butler, T. J. (2009). Economic feasibility of stocker cattle grazing tall fescue infected with a novel endophyte in the Southern Great Plains. Journal of Animal Science, 87 (E-Suppl. 2), 573.

Guretzky, J., Reuter, R. R., Biermacher, J., Springer, J., Butler, T. J., Aljoe, H. D. , Rogers, J. K., & Cook, B. J. (2009). Economic potential of stocker cattle grazing legume-interseeded bermudagrass. Journal of Animal Science, 87 (E-Suppl. 2), 573.

Uppalapati, S. R., Marek, S. M., Lee, H-K. , Nakashima, J., Tang, Y., Sledge, M. K., Dixon, R. A., & Mysore, K. S. (2009). Global gene expression profiling during Medicago truncatula-Phymatotrichopsis omnivora interaction reveals a role for jasmonic acid, ethylene, and the flavonoid pathway in disease development. MPMI - Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 22 (1), 7-17 DOI:10.1094/MPMI -22-1-0007.

Jiang, Q., Zhang, J., Guo, X., Monteros, M. J., & Wang, Z - Y. (2009). Physiological characterization of transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants for improved drought tolerance. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 170 (8), 969-978 doi: 10.1086/600138.