New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Effect of different Neotyphodium endophytes on root distribution
of a perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) cultivar
J. R. Crush1
A. J. Popay1
J. Waller2
1Plant Breeding and Genomics
2Biometrics
AgResearch
Ruakura Research Centre
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract Plants of perennial ryegrass either endophyte-free
or infected with Neotyphodium lolii endophyte strain AR1, AR37 or wild-type,
were grown in 105-mm-diameter tubes of sand in a glasshouse. Root angles
were determined by counting root intercepts on semi-circular stainless steel
mesh transects running from near the edge of the tube at the sand surface
to directly under the plant. The average number of root intercepts did not
vary between endophyte strains or between their average and the endophyte-free
treatment. However, the linear decline of root intercept frequency with depth
varied according to the endophyte status of the ryegrass. Endophyte-infected
plants had fewer roots close to the surface. This effect of shoot endophytes
on root distribution patterns in ryegrass may improve the plant’s tolerance
of moisture stress.
Keywords endophyte; Lolium perenne; Neotyphodium
lolii; roots; root distribution; ryegrass
A03044; Received 31 July 2003; accepted 11 March 2004; Online publication
date 17 August 2004
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2004, Vol. 47: 345-349
0028-8233/04/4703-0345 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2004
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