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The company that brought the first hybrid alfalfa to the industry in 2001 today announced the launch of the next generation: HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 which will be available from Dairyland Seed beginning this summer. The HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 hybrid alfalfa offers producers even greater performance and durability than the original hybrid alfalfa, HybriForce-400.

“Our continued commitment to research and advances in our breeding program have once again put us at the forefront of alfalfa breeding technology,” says Chad Staudinger, Forage Product Manager of Dairyland Seed. “Just a few years after the launch of our first hybrid alfalfa product we have developed a second generation hybrid alfalfa that produces significantly higher yields, better crop consistency and greater hardiness.”

Parental lines for HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 were selected after years of evaluation for superiority across diverse environments and weather patterns. Research has shown that the hybrid alfalfa performs well in both wet and dry years, through extreme winter conditions and in multiple cutting regimes.

“Extensive field studies and trials throughout the Midwest have shown that HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 outperforms competitive alfalfa varieties in 94.3 percent of the head-to-head comparisons,” states Steve Wagner, an alfalfa breeder at Dairyland Seed’s research center in Clinton, Wis. “This high level of performance can be directly attributed to the scope of our breeding and forage yield-testing program. The trial results have also displayed the same levels of uniformity that producers have come to expect from HybriForce-400.”

HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 hybrid alfalfa takes yield performance to the next level. Producers saw an 8- to 15-percent increase in yields with HybriForce-400 compared to competitors. HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 now offers producers an additional 5-percent yield increase over the first generation hybrid alfalfa. In addition, HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 shows consistency across all soil types, weather extremes and various cutting management practices. Producers can be confident that HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 will yield consistent crops through each cutting, year in and year out.

“The increased uniformity and consistency bring the producer greater palatability in the alfalfa plant,” says Staudinger. “This has been noted by dairy producers through increased dry matter intake by dairy cattle and in side-by-side grazing scenarios.”

Introduced in 2001, HybriForce-400 was the first significant advancement in alfalfa genetics in the previous 20 years, and the dedicated and determined Dairyland Seed research team has advanced its world-class breeding program once again. HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 was developed as a result of Dairyland’s proprietary msSunstra® hybrid alfalfa technology, a patented breeding process that has proven to be the most superior technology in the alfalfa seed industry. The msSunstra technology is a breeding process that maximizes yield potential by identifying and combining elite lines.

“The msSunstra technology maintains the hybrid yield of those elite lines all the way through to commercialization by controlling pollination. This is in comparison to traditional approaches to alfalfa breeding, which suffer from random pollination and inbreeding with each stage of commercial seed increase,” states Dairyland alfalfa breeder Dr. Paul Sun. This same msSunstra technology was used to develop HybriForce-400, the world’s first hybrid alfalfa.

“HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 is backed by more than 30 years of sound research,” says Tom Strachota, general manager of Dairyland Seed. “I have watched our research and products progress throughout the years. Producers can be confident that planting HybriForce-2400 Gen-2 will result in a direct return on their investment.”

Dairyland Seed began its seed business in 1907 and has built an established dealer network throughout the Upper Midwest, with international sales in more than 20 countries. The business experienced great success under the leadership of Orville and Marie Strachota, entering the field of plant breeding in 1977. Now part of Dow AgroSciences, the family leadership continues through their son Tom and grandson TJ. Primary research locations are in Clinton, Wis.; Gibson City, Ill.; Otterbein, Ind.; Gilbert, Iowa; and Sloughhouse, Calif., with plant breeding programs in hybrid alfalfa, hybrid corn and soybeans. Dairyland Seed is headquartered in West Bend, Wisconsin.

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