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...

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...

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...

Alkaloids produced by the fungal endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum) that infects tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.] are a paradox to cattle production. Although certain alkaloids impart tall fescue with tolerances to environmental stresses, such as moisture, heat, and herbivory, ergot alkaloids produced by the endophyte can induce fescue toxicosis, a malady that adversely a...

Fescue foot, summer syndrome, reproductive problems, and ryegrass staggers are all diseases of livestock related to endophyte toxins in pasture grasses. Range finding experiments and case studies of fescue foot relative to ergovaline toxin found in endophyte infected tall fescue and lolitrem B present in endophyte infected perennial ryegrass were conducted. Within 42 d of initiating a feeding t...

It is important to develop best management practices for novel tall fescue systems in the southern Great Plains of North America, especially since cool-season perennials are not well known or commonly utilized in this region. This review paper summarizes the research activities in this region of the southern Great Plains for developing new perennial tall fescue systems (establishment, legume-gr...

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...

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...

Surface temperatures of hoofs of calves given toxic anion fractions of tall fescue were measured with an infrared sensitive camera. These changes expressed in terms of a weighted average coronary band temperature relate to clinical signs of fescue foot. The weighted average coronary band temperature values for control calves given saline solution were 27 to 31 C; those values of test calves giv...