Tall fescue is native to Europe and was rarely planted in the United States until after the first four decades of the 20 century. However, since the release of the variety ‘Kentucky 31’ in 1943, this versatile cool season perennial grass has been widely planted for forage, turf, and conservation purposes, with most of the acreage planted consisting of this variety. “Fescue” has many attributes ...

Tall fescue and other non-native perennial cool-season grasses (such as orchardgrass, timothy, bromegrasses, and bluegrass) provide poor wildlife habitat. Native warm-season grasses (nwsg), especially big and little bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass, have been promoted to replace non-native cool-season grasses and enhance quality early succession habitat. Initially, problems associated wit...

The 2023 Southeast Research and Extension Center Agricultural report includes research conducted in the areas of beef cattle management, cropping systems, forage crops. Topics include various grazing nutrient input for steers heifers; wheat, soybean, corn production practices results, as well soil health practices; burning along with efforts improvement native tall fescue range grasses.

Pollinator species such as butterflies and bees are declining globally primarily due to habitat loss. This is especially concerning within the tallgrass prairie ecoregion of North America, where the land area comprised of native vegetation has declined by an estimated 99%. Thus, tallgrass prairie restoration and management is imperative. The control of invasive plant species such as tall fescue...

This experiment was conducted to evaluate if consumption of endophyte-infected fescue alters digital circulation in the distal thoracic limb of the horse and to assess if soundness of the hooves of horses is affected by consumption of endophyte-infected fescue. Twelve American Quarter Horses (mean initial BW 459 ± 31 kg), 6 mares and 6 geldings, were used in this 90-d study that comprised high-...

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, Shreb.) is the predominant cool-season, perennial grass in the eastern half of the United States, and the majority is infected with the endemic endophyte (E+) Neotyphodium coenophialum, resulting in millions of dollars in revenues lost to the beef industry. Endophyte-free (E-) tall fescue was initially tapped as a "silver bullet" for the solution to fescue toxi...

Multiple species vegetative buffer strips (VBSs) have been recommended as a cost-effective approach to mitigate agrochemical transport in surface runoff derived from agronomic operations, while at the same time offering a broader range of long-term ecological and environmental benefits. However, the effect of VBS designs and species composition on reducing herbicide and veterinary antibiotic tr...

For tall fescue in the southeastern USA, long term persistence, competitiveness, yield, and summer survival are directly related to the presence of a fungal endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum; formerly called Acremonium coenophialum) living in the fescue plant. However, cattle grazing forage from the predominant USA tall fescue cultivars infected with their naturally occurring endophyte strai...

The effect of cattle grazing on the genetic structure of native grass populations has received little attention. We investigated the effect of cattle grazing on genetic variation in Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis Elmer) using ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) DNA markers. The ISSR markers are hypervariable and are generally interpreted as being selectively neutral. Idaho fescue tillers were...