Grassland farming in Europe was already established during the
settlement of the rst farmers together with their domesticated animals
after the last ice age. Since then, grassland provides the forage basis
to feed ruminant animals for the p- duction of meat and milk. Depending
on the ecological conditions and intensity of usage, various plant
communities with different species developed, displaying a rich
biodiversity. With the introduction of improved crop rotations at the
end of the 16th century, grasses and legumes were also grown to an
important extent as forage crops on arable land. In the last decades the
importance of amenity grasses increased markedly, due to the demand of
the society for new usages like landscape protection. Around 1900
interested farmers and academics identi ed the need for gra- land
improvement through systematic selection and seed production. This marks
the beginning of breeding and research in companies but also at
universities and specialized research institutes. Plant collection
started with many of the species that are still of importance today. The
collected materials were grouped according to the intended use and some
type of phenotypic selection was applied. Seed mul- plication of such
populations was performed in pure stands and the harvested seed was
marketed. Although the vegetative biomass and its quality are of utmost
imp- tance in forage crop breeding, it is the seed yield potential which
determines the commercial success of a new variety.
