Agriculture, forage crops and grasslands in Serbia: Production and breeding

Abstract

Serbia is a country with great potential and capacities for agriculture. Agriculture is the basis of Serbian economy and it is the backbone of the development of the country. It is the only sector with positive foreign trade balance, representing 21 % of total export. More than 17.3 % of the Serbian population live on farms and their basic income originates equally from crop and animal production. Cattle products constitute 42.6 % of overall animal production. In the last 10 years, the number of farms engaged in raising cattle, as well as the number of dairy cows, has declined. This reduction of approximately 2-3 % annually has resulted in stagnation and reduction of meat and milk production. Arable fields and gardens account for ca. 65 % of all agricultural land in Serbia, and of that 455,000 ha are fodder crops. The total area sown with alfalfa has experienced a slight reduction in recent years to the current level of 183 thousand hectares. Red clover is cultivated on 120 thousand hectares, while fodder corn fields are expanding. Since approximately two thirds of the Serbian territory consists of hilly or mountainous areas, natural grasslands cover about 1.45 million hectares, or almost 29 % of the total agricultural land area. Fodder crop production in Serbia is traditionally based on domestic cultivars and hybrid maize seeds. Since extensive forage production is dominating in Serbia, particularly in the upland regions, domestic breeding programs are essentially focused on genotypes that can survive and produce under the local agro-ecological conditions. This has led to the inclusion of several new objectives in the breeding programmes, with the aim to improve plasticity and resilience to environmental limitations. The main objectives are drought tolerance, root characteristics, field persistence linked to low pH tolerance and symbiotic N-fixation, tolerance to the most important pathogens, Fusarium sp., Coletotrichum sp. and Puccinia sp., and adaptability to different environmental extremes. The forage crop species currently in use in Serbia consist of highly productive cultivars, with improved dry matter quality. These cultivars can achieve and sustain a satisfactory level of plasticity under a wide range of climatic conditions, not only in Serbia but also on the Balkan Peninsula. Future steps to improve fodder crop production and husbandry in Serbia include regionalisation of forage production according to a set of recommendations, stabilisation of subsidy policies, consolidation of fields and farms, improvement of grassland management and production technologies, and creating a better and more efficient system of transfer of knowledge from scientists to farmers.