Life Sciences Commons^™

Tall Fescue Cultivar And Fungal Endophyte Combinations Influence Plant Growth And Root Exudate Composition, Jingqi Guo, Rebecca L. Mcculley, David H. Mcnear Jr.

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.)] is a cool-season perennial grass used in pastures throughout the Southeastern United States. The grass can harbor a shoot-specific fungal endophyte (Epichloë coenophiala) thought to provide the plant with enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Because alkaloids produced by the common variety of the endophyte cause severe animal health issues, focus has been on replacing the common-toxic strain with novel varieties that do not produce the mammal-toxic alkaloids but maintain abiotic and biotic stress tolerance benefits. Little attention has been given to the influence of the plant-fungal symbiosis on rhizosphere processes. …