Making biodiversity work for us

Grasses galore

Grass is all around us, by the roadside, in the meadow, on the golf course, on the coastal path, in the front lawn and of course in fields.

So where do we go when we need new varieties of grass today?

Yes, the wild!

We can give grasses new characteristics, such as improved tolerance of drought (or of flooding), by crossing them with wild species. We can even manage the chemical composition of grasses for grazing so that cattle can extract more of the nitrogen and excrete less to the environment – for more efficient nutrition and less pollution.

BBSRC’s John Innes Centre and BBSRC’s Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research