A historic profile of endophyte-induced tall fescue toxicosis is presented. A chronology of events is presented, beginning with the importance of finding Balansia-infected grasses in a tall fescue pasture in north central Georgia. This initial finding was followed by the discovery that another related endophyte was present in tall fescue and other major forage grasses. This species of endophyte...

BACKGROUND For cellulosic biofuels processes, suitable characterization of the lignin remaining within the cell wall and correlation of quantified properties of lignin to cell wall polysaccharide enzymatic deconstruction is underrepresented in the literature. This is particularly true for grasses which represent a number of promising bioenergy feedstocks where quantification of grass lignins is...

Savanna models that are based on recurrent disturbances such as fire result in nonequilibrium savannas, but these models rarely incorporate vegetation feedbacks on fire frequency or include more than two states (grasses and trees). We develop a disturbance model that includes vegetation-fire feedbacks, using a system of differential equations to represent three main components of savannas: gras...

Savannas lie between the equatorial rain forests and the semi-deserts of the southern continents. From the herbivore’s viewpoint, the savanna environment is characterized by a mixture of herbaceous and woody vegetation, varying in quantity and growth stage according to the seasonal cycle of rainfall. C4 grasses (i.e. those with the C4 photosynthetic pathway) dominate the herbaceous layer, which...

The grasses in Thailand were analyzed for the potentiality as the alternative energy crops for cellulosic ethanol production by biological process. The average percentage composition of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in the samples of 18 types of grasses from various provinces was determined as 31.85-38.51, 31.13-42.61, and 3.10-5.64, respectively. The samples were initially pretreated wi...

Grasses are ancestrally tropical understory species whose current dominance in warm open habitats is linked to the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. C4 grasses maintain high rates of photosynthesis in warm and water stressed environments, and the syndrome is considered to induce niche shifts into these habitats while adaptation to cold ones may be compromised. Global biogeographic analyses of C4 ...

1. Restoration of semi-arid shrub ecosystems often requires control of invasive grasses but the effects of these grass-control treatments on native and exotic forbs have not been investigated adequately to assess long-term stability. In southern California, coastal sage scrub (CSS) vegetation is one semi-arid shrub community that has been invaded extensively by both exotic grasses and exotic fo...

The conducted research of various authors has developed a number measures for surface improvement meadowland in soil and climatic conditions. However, studies on the influence such as use organic mineral fertilizers sowing perennial grasses legumes sod dynamics species composition Floodplain Mountain meadows Carpathians have not yet been conducted, which confirms relevance this study. article p...

The grass family (Poaceae or Gramineae) is the fourth largest flowering plant family in the world and contains about 11,000 species in 800 genera worldwide. Twenty-three genera contain 100 or more species or about half of all grass species, and almost half of the 800 genera are monotypic or diatypic, i.e., with only one or two species (Watson and Dallwitz 1992, 1999). Over the last 150 years th...

Grass selections including 10 zoysiagrasses, 18 paspalums, 34 Bermuda grasses, tall fescue, creeping red fescue, and perennial ryegrasses with andwithout endophyte were evaluated for potential resistance to fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), larvae. Laboratory evaluations assessed the degree of antibiosis among 70 grass lines to Þrst-instar fall armyworms. When all parametersme...