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 |