Keywords

Introduction

Serbia has considerable agricultural capacities and potentials, due to viable farming communities, a substantial animal production and an abundance of processing facilities. Serbia is an agricultural country, and as can be seen from official statistics, has considerable natural resources, extensive areas of agricultural land, a favourable climate, and a secure water supply.

The number of individuals and the proportion of the total population involved in agriculture are substantially higher than in any other EU country. According to census data from 2011, Serbia had a population of 7,186,862 (SORS 2013b). Farmers constitute 17.3 % of the population, which is equal to approximately 1,240,000 individuals (Petrović et al. 2012). They live on 631,122 farms, with an average size of 4.5 ha (SORS 2013a). Although the average farm size has increased in Serbia, 58 % of farms are still smaller than 3 ha (Petrović et al. 2011). The majority of the farms (more than 450,000) can be found in Central Serbia, but these farms are smaller than the farms in the flatter Pannonia region. Most of the agricultural income is generated by animal and crop production (43 and 42 % of total production, respectively), while fruits and grapes contribute to the remaining 15 % (Petrović et al. 2012).

Serbia covers an area of 8.85 million hectares, of which ca. 5.1 million hectares (58 %) are agricultural land. Nearly 4.2 million hectares (83 %) of the agricultural land are cultivated and 0.83 million hectares are permanent grasslands (SORS 2013b). This translates to approximately 0.6 ha of agricultural and 0.5 ha of arable land per capita (Aleksić et al. 2010). However, more recent data from the Agriculture Census that took place in 2012 show that only 3,335,859 ha have been utilised (SORS 2013a). Fifty percent of all agricultural land is located in the Vojvodina province and the remaining 50 % is located in Central Serbia. However, most of the arable land (84 %) can be found in the Vojvodina province, which is predominantly lowland. In the hilly and mountainous areas of Serbia, which constitute two thirds of the total territory, the process of depopulation and abandonment of villages has been a considerable problem during recent decades, resulting in a reduction of farms and number of farmers. The quality of the soil and soil pH are different at different altitudes and are very good in lowland areas (chernozem) but only moderately good in upland regions.

Recent data on the areal extent of different crop groups in Serbia are presented in Table 2.1. Most of the agricultural land is used for arable crops and, of this area, fodder crops are planted on 455 thousand hectares (SORS 2013b).

Table 2.1 Land uses of agricultural land in Serbia (in 1,000 ha)
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Sixty percent of the total seeded area in Serbia is used for cereal crops (wheat, barley, rye and oats) and maize (SORS 2013b). Maize is predominant, with more than 1.2 million hectares seeded and Serbia ranks in fifth place in Europe in maize crop production – after France, Ukraine, Romania and Italy (MATFW 2012). Regarding the ownership of land, 87 % of land is private property, while the rest is owned by the state (Petrović et al. 2012). Approximately 80 % of all agricultural land is in the ownership of individuals. Agriculture is the basis of the economy and the engine for development of rural areas in Serbia and it is the only sector with a positive foreign trade balance. Agriculture contributes to 21 % of total export, but only to 6–8 % of total import (MATFW 2012). The most important trade partners of Serbia for agricultural products are the European Union (EU) and Russia.

The Serbian market has become more and more open in recent years, due to the process of association with EU. As a result, the Serbian government were obligated to invest considerably in the agricultural sector by subsidy policy with the aim of making farming profitable (Table 2.2). There are four groups of subsidies, one for registered livestock, one for investments, one for arable land (for fuel or directly) and one for the production of milk.

Table 2.2 Main subsidies for animal and crop production in Serbia in 2012 and 2013
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The absolute values of the subsidies are not high, but the importance of a stable and regular source of income for farmers cannot be underestimated.

Agriculture is considered one of the most important academic disciplines in Serbia. In the strategy of scientific and technological development for 2010–2015, entitled “Focus and partnership”, the scientific field “Agriculture and food” is one of seven fields specified as “strategic”. Contrary to many other countries, the financing of agricultural research by the state have remained relatively stable over recent years and the likelihood of being awarded a state-funded grant is high.

Animal Production

A significant part of Serbian agriculture is the well developed and flexible animal production sector with a long tradition. Also, Serbia has a strong animal feed industry, not only in the country, but in the region as well. Animal production is the most important branch of agriculture in all developed agricultures and its share in total agricultural production indicates the level of development of agriculture in a country. In Serbia animal production is ca. 43 % of the total value of agricultural production (Petrović et al. 2012), compared to 60–70 % in the EU.

Pork meat production is the largest animal production sector in Serbia, but in terms of overall animal production, cattle husbandry is the most important one. Cattle production represents 42.6 % of overall animal production and within it beef meat production is ca. 17.6 % and dairy production is ca. 25 %. However, during the last decades, livestock breeding in Serbia has been facing numerous problems, including the reduction in number of farms, the small sizes of many farms, the low number of animals per farm, an unstable market, fluctuating prices and changes of subsidies (Petrović et al. 2005). In the last 10 years, the number of farms engaged in raising cattle has declined (Perišić et al. 2011). This trend is the same in the whole EU-27 area, but the number of cattle per farm in the EU has been increasing constantly (Huyghe and Tabel 2010; Huyghe 2010). According to the Census in 2002, 97.61 % of farms in Serbia owned between one and five cows and, together, these farms owned 87 % of the total number of cows in Serbia (Perišić et al. 2011). The Census of Agriculture 2012 states that the average number of cows per farm was 1.3, sheep 2.1 and 0.4 goats. The majority of cows were kept on farms that were 5–10 ha in size, whereas the majority of sheep were kept on farms that were 2–5 ha in size and goats on small farms of less than two hectares. Over the last decades, and especially in the first decade of the twenty-first century, there has been a decreasing trend in number of cattle (Aleksić et al. 2010; Petrović et al. 2011), to the current level of 909,000 heads (Figs. 2.1 and 2.2).

Fig. 2.1
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Number of dairy cows and fattening cattle (in 1,000 heads) for 6 years in the time period 1991–2010 (SORS 2013b)

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Fig. 2.2
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Decreasing trend in number of domestic animals (in 1,000 heads) from the year 2000 to 2012 (SORS 2013b)

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There was a decrease in number animals for all other livestock groups during the last decade, but in the last year the number of sheep and goats increased significantly. There are currently 1.7 million sheep, 3.4 million pigs and 236,000 goats in Serbia (Fig. 2.2).

Total meat production has stagnated in last ten years (Table 2.3). Pork meat production (271,000 t) dominates with 56.6 % of total meat production, while beef and sheep meat production account 16.90 % and 5.04 %, respectively (Petrović et al. 2012).

Table 2.3 Dairy and meat production in Serbia (SORS 2013b)
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Milk production is a very important sector of animal production, with 25 % of total animal production, but it has been decreasing constantly in the last two decades (Table 2.3). Milk is commonly produced on small family farms, which provide 92 % of the total milk production (Petrović et al. 2012). Officially, dairy plants in Serbia process approximately 50–55 % of the total volume of raw milk produced (SCR 2006). Average milk yield of registered cows of Simmental breed (dominating with 70 % in Central Serbia due to its dual-purpose type) is about 4590 kg and of Holstein Friesian breed about 8,700 kg (Perišić et al. 2011). The consumption of milk and milk products in Serbia is between 150.3 l (FAO 2013) and 200 l (Petrović et al. 2013) per capita, which is far below that of EU countries (280–950 l).

The main reason for this negative trend in milk and meat production in Serbia is the reduction of the number of farms and, especially, the number of animals, without substantial improvement of the production per animal. Another important reason for this reduction is that fields and farms are too small for large-scale production. The average field size in Serbia is only 0.45 ha (1.2 ha in lowland and 0.3 ha in the mountainous regions; SORS 2013a). The reduction of export of animal products has also contributed to the reduction in animal production. For animal products to be competitive on the export market, the combination of three key factors (quantity, quality and continuity in production) is required, but this is currently lacking in Serbian animal production. Low quality forage (with low CP and high ADF), especially in the lowland regions, and consequently high price of animal feed, is one of the main reasons of insufficient production of meat and milk according to experts in animal nutrition.

Fodder Production

Serbia is a country with varied topography, from flat areas in the Pannonia region to hilly and mountainous areas, which constitute approximately two thirds of the total Serbian territory. Different altitudes are linked to different soil qualities (structure and humus content) and acidity (pH), which are very important factors for fodder production. Large areas of land in Serbia, almost 60 %, have acidic soils with pH below 5.5 (Lugić et al. 2010).

The most important forage crops are perennial legumes (alfalfa and red clover) in pure stands, corn for silage, annual legumes, meadows mixtures and natural grasslands. Fodder crops take up 13.8 % (455,000 ha) of the cultivated arable land, or 9 % of the total area of agricultural land (SORS 2013b). The total area dedicated to alfalfa crops has decreased slightly to a current level of 183 thousand hectares, whereas the total area used in red clover production remains unchanged. In contrast, the area used for fodder corn is expanding (Table 2.4). However, silage corn only make up a small percentage (2.4 %) of the total area sown with corn (1.258 million ha).

Table 2.4 Total area dedicated to three main fodder crops in Serbia (1,000 ha)
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Most of the forage production is conserved as hay, but also as silage or haylage. Statistics show that the average dry matter yield of major forage crops in Serbia is still too low (SORS 2013b). It increases from below 1 t ha−1 on upland pastures, 2 and 3 t ha−1 on natural and sown meadows, to 4.5 t ha−1 and almost 6 t ha−1 in red clover and alfalfa pure stands. However, the genetic potential of local genotypes of the mentioned crops is much higher. Regular dry matter yield for alfalfa and red clover is between 14 and 18 t ha−1 (Radović et al. 2007; Lugić et al. 2006), for sown grass-legume mixtures it is 7–10 t ha−1 (Lazarević et al. 2005) and on natural grasslands it is over 4 t ha−1 (Vučković et al. 2005). Production of corn silage is between 20 and 23 t ha−1 of biomass depending on the year. Natural grasslands cover about 1.45 million hectares, or almost 29 % of total agriculture land in Serbia, whereas sown grasslands cover 155,000 ha (Lugić et al. 2010). Within natural grasslands, meadows cover about 600,000 ha and pastures about 800,000 ha. These grasslands are not only important for forage production, but also in preserving biodiversity, which is very high in Serbia. Some meadow vegetation classes (Festuco-Brometea Br.-Bl. et R. TX. 1943) comprise 1,194 species, representing ca. 42 % of the total flora in Serbia (Lakušić 2005). Grassland is the best agricultural production system with regards to ecosystem quality, since it provides undisturbed habitats for autochthonous, endemic and endangered species, not only of plants, but also of insects, mammals, birds, reptiles and other animals. Grasslands are also more beneficial for the environment, due to the infrequent need for cultivation, which relaxes the soil, and the reduction in soil losses from ploughing and erosion. Grasslands have high water infiltration capacities and improve water quality due to the reduced need for pesticides and fertilisers.

Genetics and Breeding of Forage Crop Species in Serbia

The fodder crops production in Serbia is traditionalistic and based on domestic cultivars and, for corn, hybrids seeds. Typically, farmers favour local genotypes in fodder production, partly due to their experience of these genotypes and partly due to praxis. However, in extensive forage production systems that generate low revenue, as is common in Serbia and especially so in the upland regions, adopted genotypes or cultivars are of high importance. These forage cultivars have to be flexible, highly adaptable, environmentally plastic, productive and of good quality, as well as tolerant to drought and other unfavourable conditions. Despite it being very difficult to achieve all these traits in a single cultivar, it has been made possible through appropriate approaches in breeding programmes. Domestic breeding programmes are focused on genotypes that can survive and produce under local agro-ecological conditions, which are continuously deteriorating. It is noteworthy that the production seasons in Serbia often experience extreme conditions. Periods of drought are frequent during spring and summer, which lead to reduced yields and can even jeopardise whole crops.

These problems can be solved by two complementary approaches. The first approach involves defining or developing breeding germplasm that has been acclimatised to local agro-ecological conditions. This is achieved by collecting wild plant materials (autochthonous populations and ecotypes) and is regularly practiced by forage breeders in Serbia (Sokolović et al. 2003a, 2012a). These genotypes exhibit a desirable level of adaptability to local agro-ecological conditions and very often have satisfactory yielding performance (Sokolović et al. 2003b, 2004a; Babić et al. 2010), which may lead to direct phenotypic selection and cultivar release (Posselt and Willner 2007). Imported cultivars, on the other hand, are frequently not adapted to local agro- ecological conditions and show weak vigour in subsequent years of grassland utilisation, especially in comparison with local genotypes (Sokolović et al. 2004b, 2010b). The second approach involves establishing forage crops breeding programmes that utilise new breeding methods and have specific breeding objectives, such as drought tolerance, persistency and adaptability under different extreme weather conditions (Sokolović et al. 2010а). The breeding objectives also include breeding for improved root characteristics (Sokolović et al. 2012b), persistency interconnected with low pH tolerance and improved symbiotic N-fixation (Delić et al. 2010), as well as to develop tolerance to the most important pathogens, Fusarium sp. (Krnjaja et al. 2004) and Colletotrichum sp. (Vasić et al. 2010a, b). The overall aims are to improve the plasticity of the forage crop cultivars and to overcome environment limitation associated with forage crop production in Serbia. Both approaches contribute with some of the desired characteristics to new genotypes and make them adaptable to variable natural and cropping conditions. Clearly, measures could and should also be taken to optimise cropping conditions (e.g. irrigation, land consolidation) and inputs (e.g. fertilisers, pesticides) that further improve the exploitation of plant potential. However, it is unrealistic to expect that large areas of grasslands or arable forages in Serbia can be treated and improved on a short timescale through these methods alone.

In recent years, strong efforts have also been made by plant breeding programmes to meet farmers’ needs and expectations. Demands for different grassland mixtures suitable for a range of farming conditions resulted in the breeding of specific cultivar properties for mixtures and pastures, which had the required compatibility, competitiveness and difference in maturity. Significant practical results (i.e. the release of specific cultivars) have not yet been accomplished, but there has been a breakthrough in the breeding of orchardgrass for the specific use in orchards greening (Babić et al. 2009).

As result of intense breeding work, the contemporary assortment of forage crops species currently available in Serbia consist of cultivars that are highly productive and have an improved dry matter quality. They can achieve and sustain satisfactory levels of plasticity under diverse and suboptimal climatic conditions in Serbia, as well as on the Balkan Peninsula.

Cultivars Registration

Due to the high interest in the breeding and improvement of forage crops in Serbia in general, and at the two main scientific and breeding institutes (Kruševac and Novi Sad) in particular, there is a wide range of domestic cultivars that are well-distributed among cultures and species (Đukić et al. 2007; Tomić and Sokolović 2007). The Serbian market is also open to introduced cultivars, which are subjected to an evaluation process prior to registration, in which they have to exhibit superior properties to local standard cultivars. Despite these measures, the number of actively used cultivars is much lower than the total number of released and registered cultivars, due to the fact that entry on to the official cultivar list is limited to 10 years. After that period, cultivars have to be re-registered or they have to be removed from the market within 2 years. The evaluation process for cultivar registration consists of 3 years of official state trials (VCU and DUS), but only two years of full field production (second and third year) are included in yield calculations. These trials are conducted in multiple locations; how many depends on the species (three for grasses and four for legumes). Even though a sufficient number of cultivars of forage crops have been released in Serbia in recent years (more than 85 since 2003) and the genotypes have exhibited high genetic potential for dry matter production and quality, the production results have been disappointing. Poor management, a lack of capital investment and insufficient education of the farmers, followed by unstable and adverse weather conditions have resulted in unreliable animal feed production on grasslands and fields. However, it is promising that the majority of these factors affecting fodder crops production can be addressed.

Fodder Cultivars Seed Production

The task of providing sufficient amounts of high quality seeds of registered cultivars is an additional challenge for the plant breeding community in Serbia, on top of their continuous work on the genetic improvement of fodder crops. Thus, cultivar seed yield has been given special attention in breeding (Sokolović et al. 2006). New genotypes have to provide the genetic potential for good seed production, if the process of seed multiplication is to be affordable and attractive for seed producers. Since seed production in Serbia is typically carried out under rain-fed conditions, seed yield is variable and highly dependent on weather conditions. However, if the particulars of seed production of the various perennial fodder grass species are taken into consideration, the Serbian cultivars exhibit high genetic potential for seed yield. In the early phases of local grass breeding programmes, the average seed yields achieved within a 6-year period of production were 482 kg ha−1 for cocksfoot, 700 kg ha−1 for meadow fescue, 432 kg ha−1 for timothy, 581 kg ha−1 for tall oatgrass, 751 kg ha−1 for tall fescue and 728 kg ha−1 for red fescue (Mladenović and Tešić-Jovanović 1983). Among perennial grasses, the highest seed yield was obtained for Italian ryegrass with more than 2 t ha−1 (Simić and Vučković 2006). Alfalfa cultivars also displayed extremely large variations in seed yield, due to specific weather conditions in different years. Some alfalfa seed crops can reach yields as high as 1,000 kg, but the average seed yield of local cultivars over a 13 year period was significantly lower, 250 kg ha−1 (Karagić et al. 2007). Serbian genotypes of winter vetch gave an average seed yield of 0.8 t ha−1, while spring vetch reached an average seed yield of 1.5 t ha−1 (Karagić et al. 2010).

The seed production of forage crop cultivars has been organised by breeding institutions and seed companies, mostly in collaboration with large farms. Legume seed production has mainly taken place in the Vojvodina province, especially in the case of alfalfa, with approximately 2,900 ha of certified seed crops and an estimated 1,000 ha of non-certified seed crops (Karagić et al. 2010). Perennial forage grass seed production mostly takes place in the hilly and arid areas of eastern Serbia or, in the case of Lolium species, in areas with medium rain precipitation in western and northern Serbia. Currently, the situation of depopulated villages and a reduced number of animals in upland regions has shifted grass seed production to low-lying regions where fields are larger, mechanisation is better and there is a continued interest in improving animal production. According to Nikitović and Radenović (1996), local grass seed production only covers 30 % of the total seed demand and the remainder has to be imported. Despite favourable agro-ecological conditions for perennial grass seed production, the volumes produced in Serbia are still too low to meet the demand. In contrast, sufficient legume seed are produced in Serbia to supply the local market and to export. Serbian seed companies and research institutes are important exporters of seeds and in recent years they have produced new, globally recognised varieties and hybrids. The foreign trade balance in certified seed trade has changed over time (SORS 2013b), and in 2007–2009 it became positive for certified seeds of local cultivars of alfalfa and red clover (Fig. 2.3).

Fig. 2.3
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Foreign trade balance data for legume seeds (2004–2012), with separate regression lines for alfalfa and red clover

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During the same time period, the foreign trade balance for grass seeds has remained negative, with a few exceptions in 2007 and 2009. However, the overall trends are encouraging (Fig. 2.4).

Fig. 2.4
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Foreign trade balance data for grass seeds (2004–2012), with separate regression lines for ryegrass and red fescue

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Conclusions

Serbia is a country with great potential and capacities for agriculture. Agriculture is the basis of Serbian economy and it is the backbone of the development of the country. It is the only sector with a positive trade balance and agriculture products represent 21 % of the total export. Animal husbandry, as well as animal production and the feed industry, suffers from serious problems related to a decline in the number of farms and ruminants, especially cattle. This has resulted in a stagnation and reduction of meat and milk production. Fodder crops production in Serbia is largely based on domestic cultivars, which are favoured by farmers, due to familiarity and praxis. The forage crops species cultivar list currently available in Serbia consists of cultivars that are highly productive, have an improved dry matter quality and can achieve and sustain satisfactory levels of plasticity on a range of adverse weather conditions, not only in Serbia but also on the Balkan Peninsula. These cultivars have been bred from autochthonous genotypes that exhibited sufficient levels of adaptability and had satisfactory yielding performances. However, in practice, realised yields have been low due to several limiting factors, but these could be addressed.

In order to improve fodder crops production and animal husbandry in Serbia, some fundamental actions are needed. The implementation of a regionalisation of forage production is necessary. This would open up for regional recommendations on the species, mixtures and cultivars suitable for fodder production in each area. Stabilisation of the subsidy policy will allow farmers to plan ahead. Consolidation of fields and farms, especially in depopulated regions, has become an important task, since the current distribution and sizes of fields are wholly inadequate for profitable and sustainable production. The improvement of production technologies and grassland management, in order to produce better forage, remains the major task for scientists and experts. Finally, it is vital to improve the education of farmers and this requires a more efficient and improved system for the transfer of knowledge from scientists to farmers.