More than 50% of agricultural land is threatened by water erosion in the Czech Republic. With respect to soil erosion, maize (Zea mays L.) belongs most problematic crops; one possibilities increase protection against intercropping. In this study, we attempted find out effects individual intercrops and their mixtures (sown 4–6 weeks after sowing maize) or a mixed culture (maize plus lupine) on l...

Tillering is defined as the process of above-ground shoot production by a single plant. The number of grass tillers is one of the most important parameters in ecology and breeding studies. The number of tillers is usually determined by manually counting the separated shoots from a single plant. Unfortunately, this method is too time-consuming. In this study, a new method for counting grass till...

13-17 ABSTRACT Infection with endophytic fungi (Acremonium spp.) was detected in seeds of wild populations of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) collected in France by private breeding companies and INRA. In total, 262 populations were examined and 70% contained Acremonium. It is worth noticing that most populations are endophyte infected but generally endophyte infection rates per population ...

ABSTRACT Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) was inoculated with urediniospores of Puccinia graminis subsp. graminicola at four stages of reproductive tiller development. All developmental stages, from expansion of the penultimate leaf through anthesis, were equally susceptible to infection measured as number of pustules per total inoculated plant area. However, within each stage from boot thro...

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is one of the most widely grown forage grasses in temperate agriculture. In order to maintain and increase its usage as forage in livestock agriculture, there is a continued need for improvement in biomass yield, quality, disease resistance, and seed yield. Genetic gain for traits such as biomass yield has been relatively modest. This has been attributed t...

The substrate supply system for respiration of the shoot and root of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) was characterized in terms of component pools and the pools' functional properties: size, half-life, and contribution to respiration of the root and shoot. These investigations were performed with perennial ryegrass growing in constant conditions with continuous light. Plants were labeled wi...

Studies were conducted to determine the utility of overseeding endophyte enhanced varieties of perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne L., into existing stands of Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis L., to manage bluegrass billbug, Sphenophorus parvulus Gyllenhal, larval populations and their damage. Two commercial varieties of endophyte enhanced perennial ryegrass (Repell II and Triple Play) were ove...

The relative importance of duration of sward regrowth and rumen fill and fermentation on the control of grazing time and intake rate during the first grazing session of the day were studied. Four lactating dairy cows were allowed to graze ryegrass (Lolium perenne) swards, with five different regrowth periods after mowing (6, 9, 16, 22 and 30 d). The cows were allowed to graze until they stopped...

The aim of this work was to disentangle phosphorus status-dependent and -independent effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) on leaf morphology and carbon allocation in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). To this end, we assessed the P-response function of morphological components in mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants of similar size. AMF (Glomus hoi) stimulated relative P-uptake rat...

In Belgium, silages are often infected by Penicillium roqueforti sensu lato (s.l.). These 13 toxigenic fungi are well adapted to silage conditions, and their prevention during feed-out is 14 difficult. Bacillus velezensis strain NRRL B-23189 has been reported to inhibit P. roqueforti s.s. 15 conidiospore germination in vitro by the production of lipopeptides. In the present study, the 16 antago...