Ecophysiological Responses of Tall Fescue Genotypes to Fungal Endophyte Infection, Elevated Temperature, and Precipitation

Bourguignon, Marie; Nelson, Jim A.; Carlisle, Elizabeth; H, Ji; Dinkins, Randy D.; Phillips, T. D.; McCulley, Rebecca L.

doi:10.2135/cropsci2015.01.0020

Cited by 27 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Our results of relatively limited importance of endophyte infection to tall fescue abiotic stress tolerance are not unheard of: not all studies have shown benefits of endophyte infection to tall fescue under stressful conditions (MacLean et al, 1993 ; Richardson et al, 1993 ; Elbersen and West, 1996 ; Buck et al, 1997 ). Some have shown no effects (Arachevaleta et al, 1989 ; Belesky et al, 1989 ; Hill et al, 1996 ), and work performed in this same project found that E+ tall fescue experienced more mortality than E− after 1 month of +heat treatments (Brosi, 2011a ) and that tall fescue's response to the treatments is under plant genetic control, in addition to being impacted by Epichloë presence and strain type (Bourguignon, 2013 ). We did not control for plant genetic background in this experiment, as we were interested in measuring changes to the population, and it is possible that differing fescue genotypes in our project responded to both climate treatments and endophyte presence in contrasting ways (West, 2007 ), which might have hampered our ability to detect an endophyte-associated response to the climate treatments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Warming reduces tall fescue abundance but stimulates toxic alkaloid concentrations in transition zone pastures of the U.S.

et al. 2014

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Tall fescue pastures cover extensive acreage in the eastern half of the United States and contribute to important ecosystem services, including the provisioning of forage for grazing livestock. Yet little is known concerning how these pastures will respond to climate change. Tall fescue's ability to persist and provide forage under a warmer and wetter environment, as is predicted for much of this region as a result of climate change, will likely depend on a symbiotic relationship the plant can form with the fungal endophyte, Epichloë coenophiala. While this symbiosis can confer environmental stress tolerance to the plant, the endophyte also produces alkaloids toxic to insects (e.g., lolines) and mammals (ergots; which can cause “fescue toxicosis” in grazing animals). The negative animal health and economic consequences of fescue toxicosis make understanding the response of the tall fescue symbiosis to climate change critical for the region. We experimentally increased temperature (+3°C) and growing season precipitation (+30% of the long-term mean) from 2009–2013 in a mixed species pasture, that included a tall fescue population that was 40% endophyte-infected. Warming reduced the relative abundance of tall fescue within the plant community, and additional precipitation did not ameliorate this effect. Warming did not alter the incidence of endophyte infection within the tall fescue population; however, warming significantly increased concentrations of ergot alkaloids (by 30–40%) in fall-harvested endophyte-infected individuals. Warming alone did not affect loline alkaloid concentrations, but when combined with additional precipitation, levels increased in fall-harvested material. Although future warming may reduce the dominance of tall fescue in eastern U.S. pastures and have limited effect on the incidence of endophyte infection, persisting endophyte-infected tall fescue will have higher concentrations of toxic alkaloids which may exacerbate fescue toxicosis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plugs originated from an existing adjacent field. For more details on site characteristics and stand establishment see Brosi ( 2011a ), Slaughter ( 2012 ), and Bourguignon ( 2013 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming reduces tall fescue abundance but stimulates toxic alkaloid concentrations in transition zone pastures of the U.S.

et al. 2014

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“…The information in the establishment year of the sward, within and among sites, is more variable than that of a full production year because the former is more dependent on the sowing date and environmental conditions during the first months after sowing. The convenience of using data from the second year onwards was noted earlier by Bourguignon (). In accordance with the above, the last two full production years were used for a correlation analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The herbage productivity of tall fescue in the Pampas region of Argentina is correlated to its ecological niche

Scheneiter

Kaufmann

Ferreyra

et al. 2015

Grass and Forage Science

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Since its introduction in the 1950s, tall fescue has spread throughout the Pampas region of Argentina to become naturalized in much of this region. Its annual forage mass productivity shows significant differences among sites. In this work, we hypothesized that, under dryland conditions, the annual forage mass productivity is related to the probability that the corresponding site is within the ecological niche of the species. To test this hypothesis, the spontaneous occurrence of tall fescue was surveyed in an area of 440 000 km2. The abundance of tall fescue was verified on roadsides of national and provincial roads, in systematic sampling points spaced every 50 km. Subsequently, the ecological niche of the species was estimated with the Maxent software, based on the environmental information available. Additionally, the bioclimatic variables with greatest influence in determining the ecological niche were identified. Based on the information of comparative yield trials of tall fescue cultivars, a correlation analysis between annual forage mass productivity and the likelihood of ecological niche was performed. We found that the realized ecological niche of tall fescue in the Pampas region covers an area of 237 000 km2 where the average minimum temperature of the coldest month is between 2·6 and 3·2°C and the rainfall in the driest quarter is 100 mm or higher. We also found that there were significant correlations between annual forage mass productivity and the probability of realized ecological niche. Therefore, in areas with low probability of realized ecological niche, other forage species could be a better option than tall fescue to obtain a high and stable annual forage mass productivity.

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“…Assuming the endophytes are viable at sowing, endophyte-infected plants would be introduced into the environment. Epichloë infected agricultural grass species have a selective advantage in hot and dry environmental conditions [49][50][51] and under stressed conditions such as herbivory [52][53][54]. Climate change could result in environmental conditions that are more conducive to survival of infected grasses, which may increase their distribution to a level that endophyte-infected plants could dominate grasslands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epichloë Endophyte Infection Rates and Alkaloid Content in Commercially Available Grass Seed Mixtures in Europe

et al. 2020

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Fungal endophytes of the genus Epichloë live symbiotically in cool season grass species and can produce alkaloids toxic to insects and vertebrates, yet reports of intoxication of grazing animals have been rare in Europe in contrast to overseas. However, due to the beneficial resistance traits observed in Epichloë infected grasses, the inclusion of Epichloë in seed mixtures might become increasingly advantageous. Despite the toxicity of fungal alkaloids, European seed mixtures are rarely tested for Epichloë infection and their infection status is unknown for consumers. In this study, we tested 24 commercially available seed mixtures for their infection rates with Epichloë endophytes and measured the concentrations of the alkaloids ergovaline, lolitrem B, paxilline, and peramine. We detected Epichloë infections in six seed mixtures, and four contained vertebrate and insect toxic alkaloids typical for Epichloë festucae var. lolii infecting Lolium perenne. As Epichloë infected seed mixtures can harm livestock, when infected grasses become dominant in the seeded grasslands, we recommend seed producers to test and communicate Epichloë infection status or avoiding Epichloë infected seed mixtures.

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Ecophysiological Responses of Tall Fescue Genotypes to Fungal Endophyte Infection, Elevated Temperature, and Precipitation

Cited by 27 publications

References 52 publications

Warming reduces tall fescue abundance but stimulates toxic alkaloid concentrations in transition zone pastures of the U.S.

Warming reduces tall fescue abundance but stimulates toxic alkaloid concentrations in transition zone pastures of the U.S.

The herbage productivity of tall fescue in the Pampas region of Argentina is correlated to its ecological niche

Epichloë Endophyte Infection Rates and Alkaloid Content in Commercially Available Grass Seed Mixtures in Europe

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