Working Note (24th October 2008)

Multipurpose Oat Production and Utilization Program for Livestock and Humans “MOPU”[1]

Stevens, E.J.[2], T. Leuchovius[3], K.W. Armstrong[4], J. G. Hampton[5] D. Pariyar[6],

L. B. Kjær[7], A. Russell[8]

summary (ABSTRACT)

Oats (Avena sativa[9]) are an important, yet under utilized source of human food, processed products and livestock forage and fodder in emerging as well as developed economies. As horse numbers declined last century, oats slipped into the category of a niche crop, attracting limited research attention compared with other cereals. Over the past four years oat have become the focus of renewed interest for crop improvement and conservation agriculture; driven by rising food and energy costs, combined with global warming. Special initiatives are needed to “make up on lost time”. Oats are not part of the current CGIAR crop network. FAO support is limited. Alternative initiatives and approaches are needed.

Oats grow well on poorer soils and are suited to reduced / zero tillage and poorly cultivated ground; they grow well with a wide range of companion crops. In poor under-developed regions of SE Asia, their potential has been clearly demonstrated over the past 30 years to improve food quality, security and seasonal availability while contributing substantially to environmental rehabilitation and conservation at higher altitudes[10] and latitudes in the summer as well as tropical and sub-tropical lowlands during winter. This also applies in many respects, to poor areas of Eastern Europe / Balkans / Greece / Turkey / Russia as well as former Russian satellite states, Africa, Central and South America.

There is a very high degree of agro-ecological and cultivar / breeding overlap between areas of the developing world requiring assistance and leading oat producing countries in the developed world. On this basis, global leadership for oat improvement within the developing world has mostly come from domestic crop improvement programs within temperate and continental regions of developed countries, including of out-of-season networking, facilitated on a project-by-project basis by the FAO. In these activities, the New Zealand oat program has emerged as a leader, closely linked with North America and Europe where oats have been grown for grain since the early centuries of the Christian era.

A major threat to oat crops which are grown for fodder, is crown rust (Puccinia coronata), a fungal disease that is problematic in many oat growing regions of the world. Most work on oat diseases has been carried out on oats for grain in developed countries. Fodder oats in developing countries are relatively neglected despite the potential risk of damage to farmers crops from this disease. This disease risk may become more serious as winter oat fodder areas expand in mild, and subtropical climates. The rapid expansion of oat in Nepal is of particular concern, and there are large areas of oat grown in India which may also be exposed. The main control is through breeding for field resistance. Field evaluation of this fungal disease requires the participation of programmes already established in rust zones, where field testing is routine, and screening could be undertaken on populations destined for developing countries. International agency support is required to facilitate this flow of material and expertise and also to implement disease monitoring, evaluation and to support local cultivar release systems by extension services in developing counties to manage disease risk, and to provide fit-for-purpose oat cultivars to farmers, (as is done for wheat, rice, maize and other CGIAR mandated crops.)

The range of cultivars made available for developing countries are limited because there are no mandated organizations dedicated to supporting the oat crop. Current and future developments in the crop for developing regions rely on a small network of committed individuals, supported (in the USA) by the Pepsico/Quaker Oats company, and other breeders, (including Crop & Food Research in NZ), who make periodic contributions of oat lines (mainly grain types) to the nursery, which are then distributed as the Quaker International Oat Nursery (QION) to many countries on an annual basis. Variation and quality of germplasm in these nurseries has declined over the years due largely to the implementation of plant variety rights and commercialization of research. There are still no comparable global nurseries / nurseries / nursery structures for fodder oats[11]. Likewise, there are no formal global arrangements for marshaling and networking suitable companion legume, brassica, herb and other crops as an integral part of oat development initiatives / networks. A vacuum has been allowed to develop.

Because of increased interest in oat development, there is an increased matching need to up-date, up-grade and expand past adhoc research-based oat development initiatives into a properly coordinated and funded global oat improvement program coming under the CGIAR, endorsed by the UN and supported by multilateral, bilateral and unilateral donors. To facilitate this, MOPU, a voluntary collaborative program was launched jointly in 2008 through IAU-Hub (www.iau-hub.org) by New Zealand, Sweden, Nepal and Denmark to highlight, integrate and build on past initiatives (as case studies) in ways that will to help stimulate, develop and bridge them with new initiatives which address current issues and opportunities. Membership and contribution is open to others. It is hoped that one of the CGIAR Centers will take up the challenge and assume global leadership.

Case Studies - Building Blocks for the Future

Nepal

Oats were introduced into the Indian sub-continent during the British imperial era. New Zealand broad leaf oat cultivars were introduced to the Himalayan Hindu Kush region thirty years ago first in Azad Kashmir then with the assistance of FAO, in Nepal. Since then field testing and evaluation has shown that “broad leaved” cultivars originating from New Zealand perform well along the full length of the Himalayan Hindu Kush chain stretching from Afghanistan into China as well as into the adjacent lowlands. The same cultivars have also proven widely adapted in Central and South America, with overlapping ecologies to be found in Africa ,Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia , Indonesia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Mediterranean.

New Zealand broad leaved fodder oats are pivotal in Nepalese environmental conservation and rehabilitation projects for enabling farmers to change from free grazing to stall feeding / zero grazing including moving away from goats, cows and yaks (including cow/yak and visa versa hybrids) to buffalo which are more efficient when stall feed and the meat can be eaten within a Hindu society. Oats are fed green, dried and used as oaten hay, or wilted and made into silage / balage. Multiple cuts are usually taken, after which part or all of the crop may be saved for seed. Draft power, milk and meat production have improved dramatically, while at the same time substantial areas of eroded land have been retired from grazing through stall feeding and changed livestock composition[12]. In the past, these efforts mainly focused on the Mid Hills and Terrai (lowlands).

Oat cultivars developed in NZ, Canada and Europe have been in use in since the 1970’s and more recently in association with FAO, NZAID and Crop & Food Research further distributions from NZ to farmers following pre screening within Nepal are underway. The New Zealand materials developed for fodder uses in NZ and other international markets provides for the cooler temperate winter environments, are relatively later maturing and generally have adequate disease tolerance for NZ conditions. These populations were developed using parental materials from North America and Europe to provide a unique blend of mid to late maturing facultative cool tolerant cultivars suitable for autumn, winter or early spring sowing. An alternative source of material is from Finland, Sweden and Norway, where high yielding grain types suitable for very short growing seasons of around 100 days (more and less) could be adapted for grain production in double cropping systems or as quick growing fodder crops in cooler tropical winter environments. These countries have active oat development programmes mostly for grain but also for food uses, especially Sweden and Finland, potentially a valuable resource for both fodder and food uses in developing regions.

PARA ON COMPANION CROPS – from NZ

During 2000 in support of this work, a group of Nepali and New Zealand scientists got together and started a cool-season fodder oat network (www.fodderoats.net) under SEMEC (the New Zealand / Australian Branch of IAMFE) and then the IAMFE / IAU Seed and Seed Technology Help Group, encouraged by an Austrian colleague from Wintersteiger, who was supplying / servicing the New Zealand Oat program’s Oyjord plot equipment[13].

Firstly, a global paper was prepared and presented at the 6th International Oat Conference held at Lincoln University (New Zealand) in 2000 to launch the idea (Stevens et.al. 2000). This led to an invitation from the FAO for one of the group to attend a FAO conference in Bhutan (Armstrong 2002a,b) and then for the group to draft two major articles for a FAO global position paper on fodder oats (Stevens et.al. 2004 and Armstrong et.al. 2004). Out of which, the Himalayan – Hindu Kush fodder oat network based in Nepal was started. The Nepalese part has subsequently been taken over, and is to be continued by the New Zealand Aid Program (from 2007 inward).

Plans are now being made to expand this focus into the high hills through an additional project for linking (networking) Nepalese and New Zealand highland ecologies more strongly with Northern Europe, to include new cold-tolerant cultivars / genetic materials including “naked oats” suited to human consumption and processing; and to strengthen substantially the seed industry / agronomy outreach. As such, Nepal is being treated both as a case study and spring-board for helping other areas.

FAO

For the past 29 years FAO has played a major role in facilitating Nepal and New Zealand working together to develop and promote the agronomy of broad-leaved fodder / forage oat production and utilization in the Himalayan Hindu Kush region[14] targeting livestock development to improve human nutrition and well been while conserving and rehabilitating the environmental. Besides directly supporting FAO projects, these activities have also backstopped a series of major ADB and other livestock improvement projects. So far, FAO has not endorsed MOPU.

CGIAR

Companion crops?????????????

CGIAR still to be approached … next week via CIAT.

Crop and Food Research Institute

Keith’s working comment to be used / edited in ... key points.

Human utilization notes still to come.

Hi John

Not much I can add. You have 'hit the nail squarely on the head' as far as what needs to be done. You mentioned ad hoc approaches and thats correct, most development is based around small networks, effective at what they do, but lack scale to make successional changes as people move in out, retire etc. Thats the advantage of institutional type or international agencies programmes but they need to be focused. Legumes we assume will always be part of the fodder packages.

International agencies could provide the umbrella/global facilitation required to harnass germplasm currently produced by various programmes, and assist in helping with the set up of screening programmes in the developing regions, as is the case with mandated crops. People in the breeding world would i believe would be very supportive of an umbrella arrangement that could effectively deliver improved livelihoods through improved livestock performance. It might also attract sponsors, because it would be seen by their customers as being responsible world citizens..

Cheers

keith

Fodder oats are becoming an increasingly important winter fodder in developing regions. A major constraint on improving animal health and performance along the Himalayas and in many developing countries, is poorly fed livestock due, to serious shortages of winter quality vegetative fodder. Such an example is Nepal where extension projects, supported by international agencies, local farm extension services, and with the participatory involvement and support of farmers, is leading to the adoption of new on-farm oat and legume fodder production systems that can rapidly improve livestock performance, replacing low quality fodders farmers previously gathered from common lands and forests, and the reducing the use of expensive grain meals for milk producing animals. The extension projects have enabled farmers to increase milk yields, sell surplus milk into an expanding consumer market, thereby improving their cash incomes, and importantly for the women farmers especially, reducing their hours of daily toil. This successful model of transition from subsistence farming to one of cash surpluses and improved lifestyles was a step wise process resulting from early engagement with farming families and their community leaders by local agricultural research services and could be replicated in other regions. The process of engagement with farmers, identified the major barrier to improved livestock performance and living standards; winter shortages of quality fodder for livestock, was followed by the introduction of extension systems; participatory testing of new forage cultivars from New Zealand, seed delivery systems, and training programmes to assist farmers to grow winter fodder crops and to increase the overall productive capacity of their small land holdings quickly, and without undue risk.

An essential component in any livestock system is fit-for-purpose feed, especially vegetative fodder and a portfolio of cultivars and crop management systems specifically suited to deliver such outcomes. Oats are being increasingly used in zones and seasons where they have a definite ecological advantage, such as areas too cool or dry for maize and perennial pasture. Oat can be grown in short growing seasons, either at high latitudes ( Sweden and Finland) or cooler high altitudes and in warmer subtropical, mediterranean and temperate climates, where they can be grown in winter and provide excellent fodder while allowing for double-cropping. Oat can be grown at high altitudes during winter in the tropics (Himalayan range). Oats are an excellent smallholder crop, and a simple crop to grow. Their cultivation is similar to that of wheat and barley, which farmers are familiar with, and suited to the simplest hand cultivation on small farms in developing countries to up-to-date mechanized systems in areas of large-scale farming. The crop can provide both fodder and grain; for fodder the oat crop can be grazed, but oat crops for fodder are more productive in cut and carry systems when cutting height above ground is controlled, so vegetative recovery is enhanced. On small farms in developing countries, cut and carry is almost universal for all fodders. Land holdings are small, sometimes terraced and usually unfenced. Cutting causes less damage to the oats than does grazing, so multi-cut varieties have been taken up enthusiastically by smallholders. In suitable climates, oats are well suited to haymaking, and ensile well for on-farm use. Oat straw is a valuable feed resource, more palatable to stock and more nutritious than the straw of wheat or barley. Oat crops are usually grown in association with legumes, but not as crop mixes.