Thank you Stanley for your interest on Brachiaria. Definitely soil quality and temperature matters – in good soil produce more, higher temperature results faster growth (if temp is not too high) and more herbage production. The good with Brachiaria is that is perform well even in soil with low pH and fertility. This is tropical grass therefore does not like too cold and frost. We do not know how the results from East Africa apply to Sahel. Brachiaria is native in Sahel region therefore I believe technology developed here in East Africa is more likely to perform well there. Regarding the program in West Africa , BecA is looking for resource to expand this program in SSA>

Thank you Susan for very relevant question. Yes, we are currently working with Dr. Rao’s group at CIAT in this program where their contributes is to identify drought and marginal soil adapted Brachiaria cultivars (among the South American Cultivars) for field testing in Africa through greenhouse studies at CIAT-Colombia. His group is investigating the mechanism that makes Brachiaria more tolerant to drought than other tropical forage species, and also developing effective methods for drought tolerant screening.

CIAT has been working on Brachiaria for many years. By collaborating with them, we benefit from their experience and technology (agronomy plus varieties) . Working with us they benefit our geographical presence , easy access to more genetic materials, our network with African NARS and access to the state of art facilities for high end bioscience research. Africa serves as the best place for Brachiaria research especially if we are developing cultivars with increased gene pool and other traits such as resistant to pest and diseases. This way both institutes are benefitting from collaboration.

Sure Polly – I do see scope of selected Brachiaria cultivars and several indigenous grass species (from wild) as the best forage option for the dry range land of Northern Kenya. We can start looking at potential grass species in that area dry season (preferably during July and August) and plan for some farmer participatory agronomic evaluations (starting October). This way we will be able to identify best bet species in a year time. This will allow us to scale-up best bet species in October 2016. Please let me know you opinion on my proposal. BTW, we have an applicant for ABCF Fellowship, who is interested to study endophytic and soil microbial communities associated with three major grass species from Northern Rangeland of Kenya. I think this will be a good connections top move forward.

and maybe also the livestock value chain project in Northern Kenya? we desperately need some forage varieties to test in dry rangelands

YES!! Sita can you champion this??? also link to Feed Forages Biosciences (see the conversation going on under that programme about some of the same issues)

thank you Simon!!! perhaps you might also have a couple of thoughts on the Climate Smart Forages conversation happening on the Feed Forages Biosciences page?

BecA-ILRI Hub is very excited to work with LGI team in USAID Dairy Project and other future opportunities.