Progress in improving the ratio of water-soluble carbohydrate to crude protein in perennial ryegrass

This issue of Aspects of Applied Biology contains papers presented at the AAB conference on Crop quality and its importance for sustainable livestock production, held at the Manchester Conference Centre on 15-16 December 2003. The papers include general overviews concerning the future direction and priorities in forage crop breeding, as well as grassland and livestock research and knowledge transfer for developing profitable livestock systems with a more positive impact on the environment and biodiversity, and high quality food products for the consumer. Other papers deal more specifically with the genetic basis of quality traits in plants and progress towards the development of forage crops with improved quality traits, but also opportunities and challenges in developing forage crops for alternative uses such as fibres and biodegradable polymers. The remaining topics concern the impact on environment and biodiversity of different grassland management systems, research priorities for ruminant nutrition and improving the productive efficiency of grazing animals.