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Turfgrass Insects
Published in L.B. (Bert) McCarty, Golf Turf Management, 2018
Endophytes. A relatively new nonchemical control method of certain insects involves naturally occurring fungi called endophytes. Endophytes are fungi and other organisms that form symbiotic relationships with certain grasses but do not cause disease. Unlike most fungi, endophytes are not externally visible on plants. The endophyte fungus (Acremonium coenophialum) was initially discovered in forage production, as cattle and horses feeding on endophyte-containing tall fescue produced a syndrome referred to as “fescue toxicity.” However, this fungus has been found to also produce ergot alkaloids (such as peramine, lolitrem B, ergovaline, paxilline, and others) that are toxic or incompatible to certain insects and have since been transferred to certain turfgrasses. Other fungal endophytes include Neotyphodium lolli in perennial ryegrass and Neotyphodium coenophialum in tall fescue, while two endophytes, Neotyphodium typhinum and Epichloe typhina, occur in the fine fescues. In addition to providing resistance to various insects, secondary effects of certain endophytes include providing dollar spot control and increasing plant tolerance to drought and other stresses.
Pastoral agriculture, a significant driver of New Zealand’s economy, based on an introduced grassland ecology and technological advances
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2023
John R. Caradus, Stephen L. Goldson, Derrick J. Moot, Jacqueline S. Rowarth, Alan V. Stewart
Pasture quality parameters that improve feed intake and nutritive quality are major determinants for improved liveweight gain, milk production as well as animal health and reproductive performance (Lambert and Litherland 2000). The two most commonly used measures of nutritive value are digestibility and metabolisable energy levels (Ulyatt 1970). Nutritive value is influenced by pasture species composition, and the age of pasture and the amount of dead matter present, plus the negative impact of some environmental factors such as high temperature, fertiliser imbalances, and extremes of soil moisture levels (Waghorn and Clark 2004). The inclusion of forage legumes and herbs is known to improve feed quality compared with grass monocultures (Golding et al. 2011). Forages which contain compounds such as condensed tannin can improve animal growth rates and health (Min et al. 2003; Waghorn and McNabb 2003; Woodward et al. 2004; Waghorn 2008), while other compounds such as ergovaline (Caradus et al. 2020) and lolitrem B (Lane 1999) from some Epichloë endophyte strains found in grasses can be detrimental. Effective novel endophytes which do not produce concerning levels of mammalian toxic secondary metabolites are now available (Caradus et al. 2021).
Epichloë fungal endophytes play a fundamental role in New Zealand grasslands
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2020
David E. Hume, Alan V. Stewart, Wayne R. Simpson, Richard D. Johnson
Tall fescue became known for its toxicity to livestock in New Zealand from the early 1900s (Anonymous 1918; Cunningham 1948) and in Australia from at least the mid-1900s (Pulsford 1950). This toxicity was most prominent in cattle and is now known to be due to toxic strains of Epichloë, mirroring the widespread occurrence of fescue toxicity in the south-east of the USA and other regions of the world (Hume et al. 2016). The toxicity appeared to be particularly severe in New Zealand as a combination of Epichloë strains and the grass host resulted in extensive endophyte colonisation of leaves leading to high concentrations of the mammalian toxic ergovaline alkaloid (Christensen et al. 1998). While an equivalent study has not been undertaken for Australian-sourced material, the situation may be similar as at least in one region of South Australia toxicity arose from the use of tall fescue imported from New Zealand (Pulsford 1950).