As climate change continues to pose significant challenges to agricultural production in the Philippines, researchers at the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB), College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), have developed and evaluated forage crop varieties that can withstand increasingly variable and stressful environmental conditions. These efforts aimed to ensure a reliable and sustainable feed supply for the country’s dairy industry.
Forage crops such as Napier grass, sorghum, corn, cowpea, and alfalfa are essential components of dairy cattle diets, providing the nutrients needed to support growth, health, and milk production. The productivity, nutritional quality, and year-round availability of these forage resources play a critical role in determining dairy herd performance, farm profitability, and the resilience of dairy production systems.
However, prolonged dry periods and erratic weather patterns have made forage production more challenging. Drought conditions often reduce forage biomass yield, while also affecting the nutritional quality, palatability, and overall reliability of feed resources for dairy cattle.
Helping address the growing challenges posed by climate change to livestock production is the project, “Improvement of Forage Species for High Yield, Improved Quality, Persistence to Cutting, and Drought Tolerance Towards Sustainable Dairy Production,” led by Dr. Mariecris Rizalyn R. Mendoza of the IPB-CAFS, UPLB. The project seeks to provide dairy and livestock farmers with climate-resilient feed resources that can sustain animal productivity even under increasingly variable environmental conditions.
One of the project's key accomplishments was the expansion of the forage germplasm collection, a valuable repository of forage genetic resources that serves as the foundation for future crop improvement efforts.
Researchers assembled and conserved a diverse collection of forage genetic resources, including grasses, legumes, cereals, and sorghum-sudan grass hybrids, sourced from both local and international institutions. Additional forage accessions were acquired through collaborations with partners such as the Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI), while requests for new genetic materials from international germplasm collections further enriched the country's forage diversity.
Beyond germplasm acquisition, the project strengthened local capacity by training project staff, students, interns, and research collaborators in forage collection, identification, maintenance, and germplasm management. These efforts not only enhanced the conservation and utilization of forage genetic resources, but also helped build a skilled pool of future forage researchers and practitioners.
Forage varieties identified as top performers
Through comprehensive laboratory and field evaluations, the research team identified several forage materials with outstanding agronomic performance and nutritional quality. A number of accessions exhibited high protein content, excellent feed value, and strong adaptability—traits essential for supporting animal health, productivity, and efficient dairy production.
Among the varieties evaluated were, ML Hybrid corn, SGS BMR and SGS DM sorghum, Cowpea Ace, and the Giant Pakchong, and King Napier grasses were consistent top performers across multiple evaluation periods. These varieties demonstrated a desirable combination of high biomass yield, superior nutritional quality, and resilience under water-limited conditions, making them promising candidates for sustainable and climate-resilient dairy feeding systems.
A major component of the study focused on evaluating the response of forage crops to drought stress and identifying varieties capable of maintaining productivity under water-limited conditions. To achieve this, researchers conducted drought trials over two consecutive seasons, closely monitoring plant growth, biomass yield, soil moisture status, and key physiological indicators.
The findings revealed that although drought conditions generally reduced forage growth and biomass production, several varieties demonstrated remarkable resilience by maintaining relatively high yields despite limited water availability.
Notably, ML Hybrid corn consistently ranked among the top-performing varieties across both drought seasons, demonstrating strong adaptability and sustained productivity under water-limited conditions. Among the sorghum accessions, SGS DM, SGS BMR, and SPV 422 exhibited excellent drought resilience and maintained favorable biomass yields despite moisture stress. Cowpea Ace emerged as the best-performing cowpea accession, while Giant Pakchong, and King Napier grasses consistently showed superior growth and yield performance among the Napier varieties evaluated.
These findings are particularly significant as dairy farmers face prolonged dry spells that reduce forage availability and drive-up feeding costs. In addition to evaluating yield and drought tolerance, the study assessed the safety of forage crops by measuring hydrogen cyanide (HCN) concentrations under drought conditions. Results showed that Napier grass generally maintained low HCN levels even during periods of water stress, while most corn varieties also exhibited relatively low concentrations. In contrast, sorghum varieties tended to accumulate higher HCN levels under drought conditions, underscoring the importance of proper variety selection and management practices to ensure safe use of forage resources.
Collaboration with dairy farmers
To ensure that the research outputs are relevant and applicable under actual farming conditions, the project collaborated with dairy farmers and forage producers in Laguna, Quezon, and Tarlac. Through on-farm trials, promising forage varieties were evaluated under real-world production environments, allowing researchers to assess their performance beyond controlled experimental settings.
These field evaluations generated valuable insights into the adaptability, productivity, and farmer acceptability of the forage varieties. By validating research results under farm conditions, the project helped bridge the gap between research and practice, bringing climate-resilient forage technologies closer to widespread adoption by dairy and livestock producers.
Hybrid forage populations
The project also initiated breeding efforts to develop improved forage varieties with enhanced productivity, nutritional quality, and resilience to environmental stresses. As part of these activities, researchers successfully generated hybrid populations of alfalfa, cowpea, and sorghum-sudangrass breeding materials.
Initial results have been promising, particularly for the alfalfa hybrids, which achieved germination rates of 70–75 percent, indicating strong potential for further development. These newly developed breeding populations provide a valuable foundation for future selection and breeding programs.
Building on the project's achievements, recommendations for a follow though project include conducting additional drought evaluations to further validate the performance of promising forage varieties under limited water limited conditions, strengthening seed production systems for sorghum-sudangrass hybrids to support wider dissemination, and advancing alfalfa breeding and crop management studies to enhance its adaptation and productivity in tropical environments.
These accomplishments were presented during the pre-terminal review organized by the Livestock Research Division (LRD) of the Council led by Dr. Synan S. Baguio, together with Mr. Rundolfo P. Llamas, ISP Manager for Ruminants and Feed Resources, and Mr. Stephen A. Mendoza, Technical Support Staff.
As the project moves toward completion, with final laboratory analyses, field validation activities, and scientific publications underway, it is already generating valuable knowledge and technologies that can help strengthen the resilience of the Philippine dairy sector. The identification of high-performing forage varieties capable of maintaining productivity, nutritional quality, and adaptability under drought conditions provides dairy and livestock farmers with practical options for sustaining feed supply in the face of climate variability.