Ryegrass endophyte: a New Zealand Grassland success story

Abstract

<jats:p>The discovery in 1981 that ryegrass endophyte is responsible for ryegrass staggers has required a total revision of our understanding of ryegrassbased pastures. The effects on grazing livestock range from obvious clinical disorders to chronic impairment of productivity. On the other hand, endophyte infection is essential to ryegrass persistence in most of New Zealand, protecting the plant from some invertebrate pests and from over-grazing, and perhaps promoting its tolerance of moisture stress. Vigorous, endophyte-infected pastures sometimes include less clover than pastures relatively free of endophyte. Active compounds produced by the endophyte have been identified, and conditions causing high levels of them have been documented in part. Endophyte strains which do not produce the compounds responsible for livestock toxicoses offer exciting new possibilities in grassland agriculture. Keywords: invertebrate pests, mycotoxicoses, Neotyphodium lolii, perennial ryegrass, ryegrass staggers</jats:p>

Comportamiento Ingestivo De Vacas Lecheras Pastoreando Loliumperenne L. Con Diferente Tipo Y Nivel De Neotyphodium Lolii (Latch, Christensen Y Samuels)

“…Otras investigaciones han reportado que el hongo endófito estimularía en L. perenne un aumento en el rendimiento de las praderas (Prestidge et al, 1982;Latch et al, 1985;Torres, 1996;Popay et al, 1999;Easton et al, 2001;Rattray, 2003), un mayor vigor de plantas, mayor índice de área foliar, mayor número de macollos y pseudotallos, mayor desarrollo radicular (Hesse et al, 2003;Hahn, 2008), y mayor tolerancia a sequía (Prestidge et al, 1982;Easton et al, 2001;Hahn, 2008). Si bien estos trabajos muestran cambios que L. perenne puede experimentar debido a la presencia del hongo endófito, el presente estudio evidencia que el cultivar Quartet no expresaría mayores cambios al ser contrastados diferentes tipos de hongo endófito.…”

“…La presencia de Neotyphodium lolii, el hongo endófito de las ballicas (Glenn y Bacon, 1997) en Lolium perenne L. previene ataques de plagas de insectos como Listronotus bonariensis (gorgojo argentino del tallo). Neotyphodium lolii produce alcaloides con características toxicas como lolitrem B y ergovalina, los que pueden causar problemas de salud en el ganado, a través de los cuadros de "temblor muscular" o el "estrés por calor", respectivamente (Fletcher y Harvey, 1981;Easton et al, 2001;Rattray, 2003).…”

“…La secreción de alcaloides al medio intercelular le confiere a las plantas de L. perenne recibir un menor daño por el gorgojo y una mayor tolerancia al estrés hídrico de verano (Easton et al, 2001;Rattray, 2003), es decir, permite a las plantas de L. perenne que lo poseen mantenerse más sanas y activas durante el año. Sin embargo, se ha observado desde el punto de vista de los animales, la presencia del hongo endófito, unida grazing and the lamina length before grazing.…”

The origin of Epichloë endophyte - perennial ryegrass symbionts modify plant reactions to elevated concentration of Pb2+, Cd2+ and Cu2+ ions in soil

“…The bene ts of grass-endophyte associations can be improved by selection, and such selection can substantially alter the pro le of the secondary metabolites produced by the symbiont. There are established precedents for selecting endophytic fungal strains for bene cial purposes for example disease, pests, and drought resistance (Easton et al, 2001;Easton and Tapper, 2005). Many different types of endophyte-grass symbionts are used for the improvement of agricultural production in New Zealand due to increased resistance to environmental stresses and consequently a better yield (Johnson et al 2013).…”

Comparison of New Zealand perennial clovers for resilience against common pasture pests

“…The diversity, composition and abundance of above-and below-ground pests varies from district to district. Therefore, clovers are under constant pressure and usually do not compete well against vigorous ryegrasses that are protected by insect-active alkaloids produced by fungal endophytes (Easton et al 2001).…”