QS BERSEEM: A BREAKTHROUGH IN HIGH-YIELD AND CLIMATE-ADAPTED FORAGE PRODUCTION

Food security is among one of the sustainable development goals. In the scenario of adverse climatic conditions, food security is becoming a global challenge that impacts not only humans but also livestock. Currently, the biggest concern of the farmers of the country is the lack of climate adaptive fodder varieties and scarcity of green fodder during lean period. To address these critical challenges a new climate-resilient berseem variety “QS-Berseem” has been developed by the Fodder Research Sub-Station, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad which have high green fodder yield, crude protein, palatability, digestibility and nutritional quality. This variety is an outcome of composite selection from foundational parental population developed by pooling five high-performing accessions, three local BGP-30, BGP-43, BGP-77, and two exotic PI 343166 43, PI 343166 during 2013-2024. It proved its value in all yield trials and outperformed the current existing berseem varieties. It produced 5.9% and 3.8% higher green fodder yield in comparison to check varieties Anmol Berseem and Berseem Agati during 2021-22 & 2022 23 respectively, in National Uniform Fodder Yield Trials. Furthermore, it has 22.3% dry matter, 17.94% crude protein, 23.1% crude fiber, 2.15% crude fat and 11.9% ash, and good palatability. The new variety showed better tolerance against Root Rot, Crown Rot & Stem Rot diseases. Agronomic studies revealed that it aligns more efficiently with current agronomic practices. So, this variety could be a promising choice for farmers as it is capable of overcoming fodder shortage during lean periods while contributing to enhanced milk and meat production, improved animal health and overall livestock sector particularly under changing climatic conditions.