Endophytic fungi in Festuca pratensis grown in Swedish agricultural grasslands with different managements

Abstract

Cool-season forage grasses infected with asexual endophytic fungi (Neotyphodium spp.) often have advantages over uninfected grasses, including increased herbivore resistance. Since these fungi reproduce by growing into the developing seeds of the host, hyphal loading (amount of fungal hyphae in the plant) gives important information about the balance between host and endophyte in the symbiosis. This work provides insights into how ecological factors external to the symbiosis may influence the symbiosis. By repeated sampling of the same infected plants, we investigated how hyphal loading changes in Festuca pratensis through the growing season and how it is affected by fertilization and ley age in northern Sweden. Infection frequency in F. pratensis ranged from 25-65%. Hyphal loading, based on standard curves of immunoblot assay imprint intensity versus counts of hyphal density across grass leaf sheaths, increased significantly during the growing season and was correlated with cumulative degree days. There were no clear effects of fertilization treatment or ley age on hyphal loading. The symbiosis deserves further study with respect to plant physiology, ecology, crop production and forage quality

Keywords

cultivar; endophytes; Festuca pratensis; grazing; hyphal loading; immunoblot technique; infection frequency; leys; Neotyphodium; seasonal variation

Published in

Symbiosis
2007, volume: 44, number: 1-3, pages: 121-126
Publisher: INT SCIENCE SERVICES/BALABAN PUBLISHERS

SLU Authors

• Puentes, Adriana

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • York University

• Huss-Danell, Kerstin

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/98410