Teff: good for humans as well as animals

Patrick Rakau, a junior researcher at the Agricultural Research Council's Animal Production Institute: Range and Forage Sciences, explains the importance of breeding new climate-smart and improved teff varieties for both human food and animal feed in South Africa.

- Patrick Rakau

 

In the early 2000s, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) bred six varieties of Eragrostis tef (teff) for animal feed.

The plant breeder’s rights (PBR) of six of the ARC varieties: Ivory, Emerson, Witkop, Rooiberg, Emerald and Highveld, have since expired.

Since 2022, the ARC-Range and Forage Sciences Cedara breeding unit has collaborated with the University of KwaZulu-Natal on my PhD project, which explores breeding new teff varieties for dual human food and animal feed traits.

To date, 80 new M4 (third-generation) lines seeds of teff have been produced.

Soon to be ready are M5 seeds (fourth generation), which will be evaluated in different South African soils.

This is good news for the agriculture sector in South Africa as well as the rest of the world because teff has multiple benefits for livelihoods.

FAST FACTS

Teff is gaining increasing attention due to its potential to satisfy global food, nutritional and climatic challenges. 

High yield and quality hay at a low cost are achievable since teff can be harvested multiple times.

As teff is gluten-free, it is particularly useful for low-glycaemic diets.

RESEARCH COLLABORATION 

An indigenous grass that grows in Ethiopia, teff comes in white, red, brown and mixed varieties. It is commonly used as food for the people in Ethiopia and Eritrea and is gaining increasing attention due to its potential to satisfy global food, nutritional and climatic challenges.

It is therefore important for scientists to collaborate to produce new climate-smart and improved teff varieties.