Ryegrass endophyte, incidence, and control

Abstract

There was a high incidence of a fungus endophyte in most of the perennial ryegrass pastures and seed lines examined. The fungus was still viable in seed which had been stored at 0–5°C for 7 years. The main means of endophyte dissemination appear to be the sowing of infected seed and the re-seeding of infected plants in pastures. Field observations showed that when endophyte-free seed was sown, a set of mown plots and a grazed pasture were still free of endophyte 4 years after establishment. Endophyte-free seedlings were obtained by treating infected seeds with the fungicides propiconazole or prochloraz at 0.5 g/kg of seed. The fungus was eradicated from infected plants growing in pots by drenching the soil with a suspension of benomyl at 0.1 g per litre of growing medium.

Keywords:

• Ryegrass staggers
• perennial ryegrass
• Lolium perenne L.
• fungicides
• benomyl
• propiconazole
• prochloraz
• Lolium endophyte