国际牧草和草坪草育种大会IFTBC 将于 2026年10 月12-16日在山东省青岛市举行。IFTBC的目标是汇聚对牧草、饲草、饲料和草坪遗传改良感兴趣的专业人士。会议将重点讨论当前与牧草和草坪草育种相关的问题，全面的社交活动将为与中外同行和同行建立联系提供宝贵的机会，欢迎来自各个单位的科研工作人员参加。
注册报名网站：
INTERNATIONAL FORAGE AND TURF BREEDING CONFERENCE 2026
https://conferences.koushare.com/iftbc2026
WELCOME INVITATION
Dear Colleagues,
The International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference IFTBC 2026 will be held in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China from 12 – 16 October 2026. The goal of the IFTBC 2026 is to bring together professionals with an interest in genetic improvement of pastures, forages, feedstocks and turf. A wide range of sessions will highlight current issues relating to forage and turf breeding, and a full social program will provide invaluable opportunities to network with both Chinese and international colleagues and peers.
The International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference IFTBC 2026 presents the perfect opportunity to showcase products, services, commercial applications and research development to a worldwide audience of scientists and practitioners involved in this research and innovation field.
We live at a time of unprecedented new discoveries, some of these expected to transform agri-bioscience and technology development for years to come. They are to offer a unique opportunity to improve grassland agriculture worldwide, providing the feed-base underpinning our livestock industries in a changing climate, and importantly also the amenity and quality of our urban environments and cities for people to improve their lives and their wellbeing. We cannot ignore these.
It is undeniable that timely access to technology provides us with better tools; tools that are ultimately instrumental in satisfying society’s needs and desires.
Qingdao promises to be a wonderful host for the diversity of conference delegates covering a wide range of underpinning disciplines and forage and turf application fields for grassland science and technology, being one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in Shandong Province and China, with a rich cultural life.
We hope you will join us in Qingdao in October 2026 for the International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference (IFTBC 2026), to learn about and share exciting developments in genetic improvement in pastures, forages, feedstocks and turf of interest to the diversity of expected IFTBC 2026 delegates.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Professor German Spangenberg
Conference Chairman
IFTBC 2026 Conference Venue
The International Forage & Turf Breeding Conference 2026 (IFTBC 2026) will be held at the Conference Centre of the Huanghai Hotel in the Shinan District of Qingdao City.
The beautiful Huanghai Hotel is located on No. 75, Yan'an First Road, Shinan District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China, 266003.
The contact phone numbers of the Huanghai Hotel are +86-532-55769999-0 and +86-532-55767898.
The IFTBC 2026 plenary sessions will be held at the main auditorium of the Conference Centre of the Huanghai Hotel (above). Views of conference facilities for the IFTBC 2026 poster sessions, conference on-site registration, conference exhibits, conference secretariat, and speaker-ready room are shown (below).
Registration
Early bird (before 31st December 2025):
Registration for General delegate 200 USD (1400 CNY)
Registration for Student delegate 100 USD (700 CNY)
Normal (before 31st July 2026)：
Registration for General delegate 300 USD (2100 CNY)
Registration for Student delegate 200 USD (1400 CNY)
We will have a banquet which is free of charge for conference delegates.
Please confirm whether to participate when you submit your registration.
IFTBC 2026 Invited Keynote Speakers
Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar Director, Margot Forde Genebank, AgResearch, Palmerston North, NEW ZEALAND |  |
"Unlocking the potential of forage genebanks: bridging omics and breeding for sustainable agriculture"
Forage plant genebanks hold immense untapped potential to address global challenges in sustainable agriculture, livestock productivity, and ecosystem resilience. This keynote explores how integrating advanced omics including genomic tools with traditional genebank practices is revolutionising the identification, conservation, and utilisation of genetic resources.
Dr Bruno Studer Professor, Molecular Plant Breeding, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Zürich, SWITZERLAND |  |
"Pangenomic and pantranscriptomic resources to advance forage grass breeding"
The availability of multiple, haplotype-resolved genome assemblies for forage and turf grass species has paved the way towards pangenomics and the comparison of genome constitution across species and genera. This opens new opportunities to describe structural genome variation and to unlock genetic diversity within and beyond the Lolium-Festuca species complex. Together with a detailed transcriptome atlas, such pangenomic resources constitute a milestone for genetic studies, functional biology and genomics-assisted breeding.
Dr Susana Milla-Lewis Professor, Turfgrass Breeding & Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA |  |
"The next generation of turfgrass cultivars: Advancing genetic gains in drought tolerance through the team approach "
Turfgrasses are the third largest crop by area in the US and as such are a major contributor to national water consumption. This keynote explores the warm-season turfgrass specialty crops research initiative - fifteen years of coordinated efforts in breeding, genomics, physiology, phenomics, socio-economics, and management - to address a critical need for turfgrasses that can provide functional surfaces tolerant to drought, reduced irrigation, and irrigation with reclaimed (saline) water.
Dr Kevin Smith Professor, Pasture Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA |  |
"Phenomics – Looking at forages through a new lens"
A classic paradigm of plant breeding is that phenotyping is a bottleneck that reduces the efficiency of breeding programs. The emerging science of phenomics offers the ability to challenge this paradigm. This keynote explores how phenomics is being applied to forage breeding and evaluation to not only measure traits but also to give us a greater understanding of when, why and how the phenotypic variation we observe has been expressed.
Dr Chris S Jones Program Leader, Feed and Forage Development, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, KENYA |  |
"Improved forages for sustainable development of livestock production in low and middle income countries"
One of the most significant constraints to the productivity of mixed crop-livestock systems in the tropics is inadequate feed, both in terms of quantity and quality. A situation which is being accentuated by diminishing grazing lands and the impact of a changing climate. Consequently, the demand for new and improved forage varieties is growing. This keynote will show how new tools in molecular genetics and genomic technologies are being leveraged to capture the available genetic diversity in various forages, and to deliver more resource efficient, drought tolerant, and productive forage varieties that are needed to support our livestock systems.
Dr Tim Sawbridge Principal Research Scientist, Agriculture Victoria Researchm AgriBio, Centre for AgriBiosciencem, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA |  |
"Forage plant seed microbiomes, discovery and applications"
The importance of microbiomes in human and animal health is widely recognised. In plants the seed microbiome is thought to provide the initial inoculum for the establishing plant's microbiome. This keynote explores the discovery of seed microbiomes in temperate and warm season forage grasses, as well as forage legumes; the functions and applications of the microbes discovered and their pathway to on-farm deployment.
Dr Iain Donnison Professor and Head Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK |  |
"Perennial grasses as bioenergy feedstocks and for the net zero transition"
Taller perennial grasses have historically been used for construction and as a source of fibre. They can also provide a sustainable feedstock for green manufacturing and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in the future, thereby helping in the de-carbonisation and de-fossilisation of other industries. Such bioenergy grasses can produce high yields with low inputs, but there is still a need to optimise their productivity for future climate resilience and their scale up still need to be demonstrated. This keynote explores the need and advances to normalise the growing of these crops by farmers including a choice of crop varieties; agronomy of establishment, cultivation and harvest; and onward supply.
Dr Charles Brummer Director and Professor Plant Breeding Center, University of California, Davis, USA |  |
"Can we keep alfalfa in cropping systems?"
Alfalfa produces high quality forage while simultaneously providing numerous ecosystem services to agroecosystems. However, the lack of yield progress, the necessity for multiple harvests per year, and pressing environmental constraints including lack of water have resulted in replacement of alfalfa with other crops, such as corn silage. This keynote explores strategies to improve alfalfa production through germplasm, breeding, and genomics, and proposes that reimaging the alfalfa plant is necessary to make the step changes in the crop needed to keep it a viable option for farmers.
IFTBC 2026 Program Structure
History
The International Forage & Turf Breeding Conference 2026 (IFTBC 2026) builds on a long and proud tradition - over more than two decades – of a series of two international conferences dedicated to advances in genetic improvement of forages and turf.
The IFTBC precursor international conference series were the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf (MBFT) conferences that were held since 1998, and the International Symposium of Forage Breeding (ISFB) series which commenced in 2007.
The Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf (MBFT) conference series was envisaged by Agriculture Victoria and proposed as ongoing biennial international events, to be rotating across geographies around the world, on occasion of its first workshop with the theme ‘Utilisation of Transgenic Plants and Genome Analysis in Forage Crops’ held at the National Grassland Research Institute in Nishinasuno, Tochigi, Japan in March 1998 (chaired by Hitoshi Nakagawa and Makoto Kobayashi; see photo of delegates, below).
The 2nd MBFT was thus organized by Agriculture Victoria and held in Lorne and Hamilton, Victoria, Australia in November 2000 (chaired by German Spangenberg), as the single most important forum for international discussion of all aspects of molecular breeding of forage and turf plants, attracting over 200 delegates from around the world.
Guided by an International Organising Committee comprising German Spangenberg (chair), Mervyn Humphreys (retired, replaced by Iain Donnison), Reed Barker (retired, replaced by Zeng-Yu Wang), Odd Arne Rognli, Hitoshi Nakagawa and the chairs of the respective Local Organising Committees, the MBFT series continued uninterrupted from strength to strength for a total of 10 events over two decades.
The 3rd MBFT was held in Dallas, Texas and Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA in May 2003 (chaired by Reed Barker) followed by the 4th MBFT which took place in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK in June 2005 (chaired by Mervyn Humphreys) as a satellite symposium of the XXth International Grassland Congress in Dublin, Ireland.
The 5th MBFT returned to Japan and was held in Sapporo, Hokkaido in July 2007 (chaired by Toshihiko Yamada).
5th MBFT 2007 delegates in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
The 6th MBFT took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2010 (chaired by Raul Rios); and was followed by the 7th MBFT held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA in June 2012 (chaired by Shaun Bushman).
7th MBFT 2012 delegates in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
The 8th MBFT was held in Istanbul, Türkiye in June 2014 (chaired by Hikmet Budak); with the 9th MBFT returning to Asia and being held in Lanzhou, China in August 2016 (chaired by Zhibiao Nan).
9th MBFT 2016 delegates in Lanzhou, China.
Proceedings of the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf conference series: 2nd MBFT (Australia), 3rd MBFT (USA), 5th MBFT (Japan) and 8th MBFT (Türkiye) (above, left to right).
The International Symposium of Forage Breeding (ISFB) – (SIMF- Simpósio Internacional de Melhoramento de Forrageiras) was envisaged by Embrapa Beef Cattle in 2007 in Brazil due to the need of having a national and regional forum of discussion on forage breeding and forage cultivar development-related themes. Brazil has many forage breeding programs because it has the largest area of cultivated pastures in the world covering some 120 million hectares, has the largest commercial herd, is the second beef producer in the world and is the largest beef exporter, as well as the largest tropical forage seed producer and exporter.
Logos of the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf (MBFT) conference series (left); the International Symposium of Forage Breeding (ISFB) – (SIMF - Simpósio Internacional de Melhoramento de Forrageiras) series (center); and of their converged International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference (IFTBC) series (right).
The first ISFB was organized by and held at Embrapa Beef Cattle in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil in 2007 and counted with 86 attendees including researchers, technicians and graduate students, as well as 15 invited speakers, with two of them from USA, one from Australia and one from Argentina.
The 2nd ISFB was also organized and held at Embrapa Beef Cattle in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil in 2009 and had 115 participants in attendance. There were 20 invited speakers, of which one was from France and three from the USA. ISFB 2009 extended its international participation reach beyond Brazil, with ten attendees from Argentina, three from Uruguay, one from Colombia, as well as one from New Zealand. There were participants from 25 Brazilian universities and representatives from 13 Brazilian states from north to south: two from the North region, three from the North-East, three from the Central-West and the Federal District, three from the South-East and two from the South.
The 3rd ISFB was also organized by Embrapa Beef Cattle and was held in 2011 in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. There were over 100 delegates in attendance, as well as 15 Brazilian speakers and 5 international speakers from Colombia, Japan, UK, USA and Australia.
The 4th ISFB was held for the first time outside Brazil, taking place in Melbourne, Australia in September 2013, and was organized by Agriculture Victoria as a satellite meeting of the International Grassland Congress. It attracted over 100 delegates from 14 countries (Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, France, China, Netherlands, Kenya, Japan, Türkiye, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile), with broad representation of academic, research and commercial forage breeding programs globally, covering temperate and tropical forage grasses, forage legumes and their symbionts (rhizobia, fungal endophytes, microbiomes).
Continuing with the new approach of bringing ISFB to different geographies around the world, the 5th ISFB was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2015. This symposium was a combined meeting and co-named with the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf 2015 conference (10th MBFT).
Delegates at the combined 10th MBFT 2015 and 5th ISFB 2015 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Images from poster sessions at MBFT and ISFB conferences over the years.
The success of the combined 5th ISFB and 10th MBFT set the foundation for the two series of international conferences on genetic improvement of forage and turf to be fully converged as one – under the new and present name of International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference IFTBC for its next event, which was held in Orlando, Florida, USA in 2019 (chaired by Ken Quesenberry).
After a hiatus due to the global pandemic, the IFTBC then returned to Brazil, and was held in Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil in October 2024 (chaired by Marco Pessoa), and committing to hold the next IFTBC returning to a biennial sequence, as IFTBC 2026, in Qingdao, Shandong, China in October 2026.
IFTBC International Organizing and Continuing Committee
IFTBC 2026 Conference Office Contact
For any query on the International Forage & Turf Breeding Conference 2026 (IFTBC 2026) please contact the IFTBC 2026 Chair, Organizing Committee with copy to the IFTBC 2026 Conference Secretariat via email at the following email addresses:
Professor German Spangenberg
IFTBC 2026 Chair Organizing Committee
Email: germancspangenberg@gmail.com
IFTBC Conference Secretariat
Email: iftbc2026@163.com
IFTBC 2026 Local Organizing Committee Contacts
Professor German Spangenberg (Chair)
Email: germancspangenberg@gmail.com
Email:G.Spangenberg@latrobe.edu.au
Professor Zengyu Wang (Co-Chair)
Email: zywang@qau.edu.cn
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