OBJECTIVE Four lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from common vetch, tall fescue and perennial ryegrass on the Tibetan Plateau were characterized, and their effects on the fermentation quality of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) silage were studied. METHODS The four isolated strains and one commercial inoculant (G, Lactobacillus plantarum MTD-1) were evaluated using the aci...

Seed production of annual weeds persisting through cropping phases replenishes/establishes viable seed banks from which these weeds will continue to interfere with crop production. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems are now viewed as an effective means of interrupting this process by targeting mature weed seed, preventing seed bank inputs. However, the efficacy of these systems is directl...

'Surrey' ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) has produced well in clipping yield trials across Louisiana, but yield trials do not always predict how well the forage supports performance under grazing conditions. This trial compared Surrey ryegrass with 'Marshall' ryegrass grazed continuously or rotationally. Two pastures of Surrey and two pastures of Marshall that had been subdivided into six pa...

Drought is a major environmental stress that limits growth and development of cool-season annual grasses. Drought transcriptional profiles of resistant and susceptible lines were studied to understand the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.). A total of 4718 genes exhibited significantly differential expression in two L. multiflorum lines. Additio...

Preventing the introduction of weeds into the farming system through sowing of clean seeds is an essential component of weed management. The weed seed contamination of cleaned grain and herbicide resistance levels of the recovered weed seeds were examined in a study conducted across 74 farms in the Western Australian grainbelt. Most farmers grew and conserved their own crop seed. The majority o...

Enhanced rhizosphere degradation uses plants to stimulate the rhizosphere microbial community to degrade organic contaminants. We measured changes in microbial communities caused by the addition of two species of plants in a soil contaminated with 31,000 ppm of total petroleum hydrocarbons. Perennial ryegrass and/or alfalfa increased the number of rhizosphere bacteria in the hydrocarbon-contami...

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) are two major turfgrass species in the United States. Their improvement via biotechnology approaches depend on the tissue culture response, particularly in vitro plant regeneration. To understand more of the regeneration event, scanning electron microscopy was performed and somatic embryogenesis was revealed in...

Lolium perenne ssp. multiflontm (Italian ryegrass) resistant to ACCase inhibiting herbicides has been reported in many wheat producing counties across Arkansas. Resistance is believed to be the result of point mutations creating amino acid substitutions in the CT domain of the plastidic ACCase gene. This study explores the occurrence of mutations in the A CCase gene of ryegrass populations. Pla...

The market for turf-type perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) continues to grow with over $70 million in seed sales in 1994. Breeders in private companies are capitalizing on this increasing ryegrass popularity by continuing to make improvements in turf quality traits such as color, density, texture, mowability and disease resistance. However, all current improved turf-type cultivars do not have...

Four primary mycotoxicosis have been reported in livestock caused by fungal infections of grasses or cereals by members of the Clavicipitaceae family. Ergotism (generally associated with grasses, rye, triticale and other grains) and fescue toxicosis (associated with tall fescue grass, Festuca arundinacea) are both caused by ergot alkaloids, and referred to as 'ergot alkaloid intoxication'. Ryeg...