A cryptic fungal endophyte, Neotyphodium coenophialum, infects most tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) pastures in the United States. Cattle, sheep, and horses that consume the endophyte-infected grass can suffer fescue toxicosis caused by toxic alkaloids in the infected plants. The effects of the endophyte on mammalian herbivores have been well documented, but less is known regarding the qualit...

Adaptation and Establishment Meadow fescue prefers deep, rich soils, and while surviving in wet soils, it cannot tolerate flooding. It will survive under dry conditions but is more sensitive to drought than many other grasses. It can be grown in areas suitable for timothy, and is considerably more winter hardy than tall fescue in northern environments. Meadow fescue is closely related to both t...

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is the most commonly used cultivated grass in the United States to feed beef cattle. Tall fescue is a cool-season perennial grass that many cattle producers ‘can’t live with, but can’t live without’ because of its hardiness and good forage yields, but adverse effects on cattle well-being and yields. The history of this forage and its effects on animal p...

Tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceous (Schreb.) Dumort. nom. cons. Lolium arundinaceum Darbysh.] is the dominant pasture grass across much of southeast USA. The species productive, but grows slowly in summer. Plants also harbor an endophytic fungus (Epichloe coenophiala), which produces alkaloids that are toxic to cattle. Adding summer-productive forages fescue-based systems may benefit animal...

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 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...

Tall fescue grass cultivars with or without endophytes were evaluated for their susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita in the greenhouse. Tall fescue cultivars evaluated included, i) wild-type Jesup (E+, ergot-producing endophyte present), ii) endophyte-free Jesup (E-, no endophyte present), iii) Jesup (Max-Q, non-ergot producing endophyte) and iv) Georgia 5 (E+). Peach was included as the con...

Tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub) is a cool-season bunchgrass that grows throughout the eastern half of the United States and in the Pacific northwestern region of the country. It is estimated that over 90% of tall fescue pastures are infected with the fungal endophyte Neotyphodium coenophialum (Bacon and Siegel, 1988; Glenn et al., 1996). Tall fescue is native to Europe and was f...

Mutual relationship between pasture grasses and Neotyphodium fungal endophytes is of great importance in grass improvement. Two endophyte containing tall fescue genotypes (75 and 83) and their endophyte free ramets were used in this study. Endophytes were isolated from tall fescue genotypes 75 and 83 and used in three methods of inoculation including Latch and Christensen approach, insertion of...