Alkaloids and Palatability of Phalaris arundinacea L. Grown in Diverse Environments¹

Abstract

We grew 15 clones of reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) of varying palatability in Indiana and Minnesota and nine clones in Pennsylvania and Alaska over a 2‐year period to determine whether diverse environments would influence alkaloid type, alkaloid concentration, and palatability. We also determined the repeatability of a previously‐established correlation between palatability and total basic alkaloids in reed canary. Major alkaloid types and relative total basic alkaloid concentrations of clones were very repeatable among locations, even though heat units and daylength varied greatly. Of the nine clones grown in all 11 environments, three always contained gramine (3‐dimethylaminomethyl‐indole), two contained N,N‐dimethyltryptamine, and four contained 5‐methoxy‐N,N.dimethyltryptamine. Total basic alkaloid concentrations of clones were highly correlated (r = 0.90 or higher) between all combinations of environments. Palatability ratings of clones grazed by sheep were highly correlated between Minnesota and Indiana (r = 0.91 or 0.96) and between harvests within locations (r = 0.97 or 0.99). Therefore, palatability was a function of plant rather than of animal differences. Total alkaloid concentrations and palatability ratings of clones were highly correlated (r = 0.87 to 0.94) when palatability was rated on a scale of 1 (completely consumed) to 10 (completely rejected). These results confirmed previous findings and substantiated the conclusion that determination of total alkaloids is a valid method of screening for palatability in reed canary.

Palatability of Reed Canary Grass Pasture

“…Simons and Martin (1971) and Martin et al (1973) have shown a good correlation between palatability in this species, as determined by using sheep, and total alkaloids. Their methods of alkaloid analyses involved either the independent anaiysis of indoles or a total alkaloid analysis.…”

Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea) as a Biological Model in the Study of Plant Invasions

“…Germination requires light and is best in moist soils (Vose, 1962;Landgraff and Junttila, 1979;Zedler, 2001, 2002b), with highest germination rates in water-saturated soils (Coops and Vandervelde, 1995;Kellogg et al, 2003). RCG has a naturally high concentration and diversity of alkaloids from the tryptamine, carboline, gramine, and hordenine families (Marten et al, 1973;Coulman et al, 1977;Ostrem, 1987), which make the species naturally poorly palatable (Marten et al, 1973(Marten et al, , 1976Thompson et al, 2001).…”

Modes of colonization of an heterogenous alluvial area on the edge of the garonne river by Phalaris arundinacea L

“…Moreover it acts as an efficient water purifier in the same way as other Helophytes like Scirpus lacustrk (Le R o n and Lepine, 1985), Phragmites austrah (Pautou, 1975;Dubois, 1977), and Cladium mariscus (Pautou, 1981). Its high productivity (7 to 12 tons of dry matter ha-' yr-' in the case of the aboveground part according to Marten, 1985), has made it a widely used forage plant (Berg, 1980;Foss, 1983) at least at the very first stages'of its growth because toxicity increases with maturation (Marten et al, 1973;Gomm, 1979).…”