Address CIAT Headquarters Recta Cali-Palmira, km 17 A.A. 6713
Country Colombia
E-mail j.miles@cgiar.org
Dr. John Miles is a forage breeder with InternationalCenter for Tropical Agriculture and works in the group of Agrobiodiversity. In the mid 1980's, Dr. John Miles started a breeding program at CIAT in Colombia to try to develop apomictic hybrid Brachiarias that were resistant to spittle bug but also capable of producing high yields of good quality feed. The first two hybrids introduced to Southeast Asia by CIAT were part of a four-year Brachiaria variety trial in Thailand commencing in 1996. The Thai Department of Livestock Development (DLD) was looking for alternatives to B. ruziziensis for dairy production in the seasonally wet-dry climates and moderate-fertility soils of northeast Thailand. Of the 49 numbered accessions, subsequently renamed Mulato) was the most promising. The potential of Mulato for South East Asia is the vigorous growth, relatively good quality feed and excellent dry season productivity.
