Research Geneticist
US Dairy Forage Research Center
USDA-Agricultural Research Service

BS, Conservation Biology, 1997 Brigham Young University
MS, Agronomy-Plant Breeding, 2001, Iowa State University
PhD, Agronomy-Plant Breeding, 2003 Iowa State University
 
Phone: (608) 890-0077
Fax: (608) 890-0076
E-Mail: Heathcliffe.Riday@ars.usda.gov

Current Research
• Designing forage plants with enhanced value for dairy production, profitability, and sustainability.
• Breeding and genetics of forage legumes for dairy production use in hay, silage, and grazed pasture systems.
• Traits of interest: biomass yield, forage quality, persistence, grazing tolerance, competitiveness in grass-legume mixtures, seedling vigor, frost-seeded establishment, mixed sward species composition changes over time, and heterosis of synthetic based hybrids.
• Breeding work in the following forage legumes: red clover (Trifolium pratense), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum), falcata(Medicago sativa subsp. falcata), hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), hairy vetch(Vicia villosa), and some native North American perennial legumes.

Link to scientist's current research