b'tion varies, however: there are temperate, winter-dormant varieties as well as Mediterranean, summer-dormant types.Leaf texture is another consideration. Cattle tend to avoid rough-leaved tall fescue, prompting breeders to develop softer-leaved lines. Quitt notes, however, that soft leaves do not automatically equate to higher forage quality. At Barenbrug, turf breeding targets the same species, while forage breeding primarily focuses on tall fescue (including Mediterranean types) and meadow fescue. DSVs forage programme likewise concentrates on tall and meadow fescue.BREEDING TIMELINES AND TARGETSDeveloping a new fescue variety is a long-term endeavour. Depending on the species and intended use, the process typically takes 10 to 18 years. Breeders continuously align development with market needs through direct feedback from end-users, farmer organisations, disease surveys, and other monitoring mechanisms.At Barenbrug, forage breeder Gilles Labarneix highlights the main breeding targets: forage and seed yield, nutritional quality (including leaf softness to ensure livestock consumption), and resist-Etienne Abelard, DLFs fescueDSV breeder Yannick Quitt.ance to both biotic and abiotic stress. Quality is the main chal-breeder in France. Photo: DLF Photo DSV. lenge, Labarneix explains, but it has improved substantially over the last few years. Barenbrugs turf breeder, Stphane Charrier, has similar objectives but adds salt tolerance as a priority, reflecting the increasing use of recycled water in turf management.DLFs breeding goals vary by species and use. For tall fescue forage, targets include yield, leaf softness, overall quality, and drought tolerance; for meadow fescue, the emphasis is mainly on yield and quality. In turf varietiesincluding tall, red, sheep, and hard fescuesgoals encompass visual merit, leaf fineness, disease resistance, colour, and wear tolerance. Salt tolerance is also specif-ically addressed in red, sheep, and hard fescues.DSVs approach in tall fescue forage breeding prioritises forage and seed yield, black rust resistance, leaf softness, feeding value (especially digestibility), density, winter growth, and summer persis-tence. In meadow fescue, breeders additionally focus on resistance to black rust, crown rust, and leaf spots, along with winter hardiness, feeding value, and ground cover.BREEDING METHODSBarbara Hinds-Cook, a DLF breeder in Washington State, U.S., explains that all Festuca species are bred like other outcrossing grasseseither through half-sib open pollination or full-sib con-Barenbrug forage breederBarbara Hinds-Cook, DLFtrolled pollinationfollowed by careful selection of the offspring.Gilles Labarneix. breeder in Washington State, U.S. Photo: Barenbrug Photo: DLF At DSV, tetraploid meadow fescue varieties are developed via colchicine treatment. Barenbrug employs extensive Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) analyses to assess crop quality and select superior lines.Labarneix emphasises that Festucas perennity and natural abi-otic resistance make it relatively easier to breed compared with other grasses. Hinds-Cook adds that most Festuca species flower two to three weeks earlier than other grasses, requiring early assessment of parental material in the spring.Compared with forage perennial ryegrass, tall fescue is a hexa-ploid, meaning genomic selection tools, widely used in ryegrass, are not yet fully applicable. Quitt notes that the development of tetra-ploid meadow fescue varieties in recent years has helped improve forage quality and facilitated breeding progress.YIELD AND SEED PRODUCTIONAccurate measurement of yield is a cornerstone of fescue breeding. At Barenbrug, Festuca yield is primarily measured using a Haldrup cut-ting machine, which allows precise assessments of forage performance. At DLF, combines equipped with Near-Infrared (NIR) cam-eras are used to measure both fresh and dry matter directly in the field. NIR data are later used to predict forage quality parameters, Barenbrug turf breeder StphaneSabrina Rasmussen, DLFs fescueexplains Sabrina Rasmussen, DLFs fescue breeder in Denmark. Charrier. breeder in Denmark. Photo: DLF We see potential for combining NIR with machine learning to push beyond the typical annual yield gains of 0.2%0.3% in grass crops.34ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | SEPTEMBER 2025'