Timothy

Timothy (Phleum pratense) – the most valuable forage grass in the Nordic countries.

Timothy (Phleum pretense L.) has been the predominantly used forage grass in the Nordic countries since farmers started to sow artificial meadows around 1860.

It is not fully understood whether common timothy is an indigenous species in the Nordic flora or not. However, it is agreed that timothy seeds from southern parts of Europe were imported for forage production to the Nordic countries from about 150 years ago, and that this import has contributed significantly to the broad genetic diversity that can be found in Phleum species and subspecies.

Indigenous or not, timothy is widely spread, and by most people considered to be an appreciated member of natural flora, e.g. when picking wild strawberries. Actually, the name strawberries reflects that the small berries were put on a straw (mostly timothy) when collected.

Figure 1. Alpine cat's tail is used for revegetation in Norway, repairing blots in landscapes in mountain areas after construction of roads, powerplants etc. This image is from a seed production plot at Landvik research station in Grimstad. (Image Åsmund Asdal)

Broad diversity of timothy

Timothy (Phleum pratense) is native in Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. Through 150 years of Nordic timothy farming history, a broad genetic diversity in the species has evolved. This comprise wild populations adapted to local growing conditions, land races that have been developed through farmers’ use of the plant and modern varieties arisen from commercial plant breeding. Timothy has shown a significant ability to adapt to different climates and regions, and due to this broad diversity, we can still find genetic material of value for future forage production in nature or in old grass fields.

Timothy is not indigenous to North-America, but was introduced by early settlers and first described in 1711. The name Timothy (timotei in Scandinavian languages) was given to the plant because a farmer named Timothy Hansen began to promote cultivation of it as hay about 1720, and the grass has been known by its present name since then. Timothy is now naturalized throughout most of the US and Canada.

Figure 2. Sandy cat's tail is a rare species found on shores in the south east part of the Nordic countries. In Norway, it was considered extinct, until a couple of plants were found in Færder national park in 2104. (Image Oddvar Pedersen)

A handful of related species in wild flora

The name timothy is used on P. pratense only. Other species in the Phleum genus is mostly named cat’s-tail. The timothy species is normally divided into two subspecies; common timothy (P. pretense ssp. pratense L.) and wild timothy (P. pratense ssp. nodosum L.). Only small details distinguish between the two. The farmed timothy originates probably from the wild nodosum form. Specimens of timothy that can be found in wild flora are often hybrids and a mixture of the two subspecies. As the ssp. pratense type is mostly found in old meadows and road sides, the ssp. nodosum type is found in dry grass areas, where it prefer soils with higher pH values.

In addition, we find wild relatives to the farmed timothy in the Phleum genus in the wild flora. The most widespread of these is alpine cat’s-tail (Phleum alpinum L.), mainly growing in highlands and mountain areas in the Nordic countries. The second is purple-stem cat's-tail (P. phleoides L.) found wild in more southern lowlands on calcareous soils. A quite rare timothy species, sand cat’s-tail (P. arenarium L.) is found in the southern coastal areas of the Nordic region.

Figure 3. Timothy (Phleum pratense). Accession "Sjöänden HAJ0201" collected in Sweden and now conserved ex situ at NordGen

Valuable crop wild relatives

So far, other Phleum species than P. pratense has not been used in plant breeding. However, this can change as techniques used in plant breeding become more advanced. Consequently all Phleum species in wild flora should be considered as valuable crop wild relatives (CWR).

As most forage grasses, timothy is a cross breeder, which means that plant populations consist of genotypes with different qualities and adaptations. Well adapted genotypes will prevail and produce seeds under certain growing conditions, and through numbers of generations, certain land races have evolved.

A Norwegian timothy land race ‘Grindstad’ is still popular and much used in Norway and other Nordic countries. The land race was registered as a variety in 1916, and celebrates 100 year anniversary this year. Three generations of farmers on the farm Grindstad in south-east Norway have regularly chosen well adapted genotypes for further development of the land race, and Timothy ‘Grindstad’ has up till today managed to compete quite well with modern timothy varieties from the Nordic plant breeding companies.

Significant Nordic timothy breeding

Commercial breeding of timothy is carried out in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and a number of varieties are registered and available on the market. Today’s timothy breeding is based on genetic material in old land races, modern cultivars and material collected from wild and semi wild fields, e.g. abandoned hay meadows.

In 2016 twelve timothy varieties are approved on the Norwegian official plant variety list. Most of these are bred by Norwegian plant breeders in the breeding company Graminor, but we also find one variety owned by Lantmännen in Sweden and one from Boreal Plant Breeding in Finland. Correspondingly, the Finnish Plant Variety Journal list 25 approved timothy varieties. Nine of these are currently marketed by the Finnish Boreal Plant Breeding.

Timothy resources in gene bank

The use of purchased seeds of modern varieties started in the middle of the previous century, and then the use of local land races ended. The Nordic Gene bank was established in 1979, and came too late to conserve most of the broad diversity of local land races that existed before 1950. For this reason a range of collecting missions were carried out in the Nordic countries, with the aim to find surviving old genotypes in old meadows.

NordGen has now a Phleum collection consisting of 831 accessions of four species. Most of these are of timothy, P. pratense type (notified as P. pratense and P. nodosum). Nineteen samples are of P. alpinum and one accession is of the P. phleoides species.

Samples of alpine cat’s-tail are collected in Sweden, Iceland and Finland, and the only accession of purple-stem cat's-tail originates from Sweden. Samples of timothy (P. pratense) originate from all Nordic countries, with the highest numbers from Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Text by Åsmund Asdal

Contact person: Anna Palmé, anna.palme@nordgen.org

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