Symbiotic fungi from a wild grass () increase the growth, grain yield and quality of tritordeum under field conditions.

Plants function in symbiosis with numerous microorganisms, which might contribute to their adaptation and performance. In this study, we tested whether fungal strains in symbiotic interaction with roots of , a wild grass adapted to nutrient-poor soils in semiarid habitats, could improve the field performance of the agricultural cereal tritordeum ( × ). Seedlings of tritordeum were inoculated with 12 different fungal strains isolated from roots of that were first proved to promote the growth of tritordeum plants under greenhouse conditions.

species associated with the maritime grass subsp. .

subsp. is a perennial grass growing in sea cliffs where plants are highly exposed to salinity and marine winds, and often grow in rock fissures where soil is absent. species are one of the most abundant components of the root microbiome of this grass and several isolates have been found to produce beneficial effects in their host and other plant species of agronomic importance.

enhances tomato drought tolerance by improving photosynthesis, nutrient uptake and enzymatic antioxidant response.

Functional symbiosis with fungal endophytes can help plants adapt to environmental stress. is one of the most abundant fungal taxa associated with roots of subsp. , a grass growing in sea cliffs.

A Fungal Endophyte From a Wild Grass Improves Growth and Salinity Tolerance of Tritordeum and Perennial Ryegrass.

Some microbiome components can provide functions that extend the capabilities of plants, increasing the environmental adaptability and performance of holobionts. subsp. is a perennial grass adapted to rocky sea cliffs, where soil and nutrients are very limited, and exposure to salinity is continuous.

Endophyte-Promoted Seed Pathogen Increases Host Grass Resistance Against Insect Herbivory.

Plants host taxonomically and functionally complex communities of microbes. However, ecological studies on plant-microbe interactions rarely address the role of multiple co-occurring plant-associated microbes. Here, we contend that plant-associated microbes interact with each other and can have joint consequences for higher trophic levels.

Genetic Diversity of the Symbiotic Fungus in Naturally Occurring Host Grass Populations.

festucae is a common symbiont of the perennial and widely distributed cool season grass, . The symbiosis is highly integrated involving systemic growth of the fungus throughout above-ground host parts and vertical transmission from plant to its offspring host seeds. However, the nature of symbiosis is labile ranging from antagonistic to mutualistic depending on prevailing selection pressures.

The Role of Fungal Microbiome Components on the Adaptation to Salinity of subsp. .

subsp. is a perennial grass that inhabits sea cliffs, a habitat where salinity and low nutrient availability occur. These plants have a rich fungal microbiome, and particularly common are their associations with in aboveground tissues and with and in roots.

In vitro nutritional quality and antioxidant activity of three weed species as feed additives for sheep in the Central Highlands of Mexico.

Sheep production is traditional for rural communities in Mexico, based on natural grasslands and semi-stabled feeding. Quality forages are necessary to improve productivity in these systems. Weeds are an alternative to feed ruminants and to manage crops.

Disruption of Traditional Grazing and Fire Regimes Shape the Fungal Endophyte Assemblages of the Tall-Grass .

The plant microbiome is likely to play a key role in the resilience of communities to the global climate change. This research analyses the culturable fungal mycobiota of across a sharp gradient of disturbance caused by an intense, anthropogenic fire regime. This factor has dramatic consequences for the community composition and diversity of high-altitude grasslands in the Pyrenees.

Untapping the potential of plant mycobiomes for applications in agriculture.

Plant-fungal interactions are widespread in nature, and their multiple benefits for plant growth and health have been amply demonstrated. Endophytic and epiphytic fungi can significantly increase plant resilience, improving plant nutrition, stress tolerance and defence. Although some of these interactions have been known for decades, the relevance of the plant mycobiome within the plant microbiome has been largely underestimated.

Screening fungal endophytes from a wild grass for growth promotion in tritordeum, an agricultural cereal.

Celtica gigantea(= Stipa gigantea) is a large perennial grass which grows in nutrient-poor sandy soils in semiarid zones of the western Iberian Peninsula. The purpose of this work was to find out if culturable fungal symbionts isolated from roots of this wild grass could have growth promoting activity in tritordeum, a hybrid cereal for human consumption. A survey of fungi from the root endosphere of C.

Determination of Loline Alkaloids and Mycelial Biomass in Endophyte-Infected by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemometrics.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an accurate, fast and nondestructive technique whose use in predicting forage quality has become increasingly relevant in recent decades. -infected grass varieties are commonly used in areas with high pest pressure due to their better performances compared to endophyte-free varieties. The insect resistance of -infected grasses has been associated with four main groups of endophyte secondary metabolites: ergot alkaloids, indole-diterpenes, lolines and peramine.

Cultivation and growth dynamics of endophytic fungi in a solid culture medium based on sugar beet pulp.

Background: The production of mycelium from endophytic fungi is of interest for applications ranging from inoculants and biofertilizers for crop production to fermentations for enzyme and metabolite production. The purpose of this study was to test the capacity of a solid growth medium based on beet pulp for growing different strains of endophytes.

Results: The ergosterol content of inoculated medium was measured to estimate fungal growth.

Local adaptation in natural European host grass populations with asymmetric symbiosis.

Recent work on microbiomes is revealing the wealth and importance of plant-microbe interactions. Microbial symbionts are proposed to have profound effects on fitness of their host plants and vice versa, especially when their fitness is tightly linked. Here we studied local adaptation of host plants and possible fitness contribution of such symbiosis in the context of abiotic environmental factors.

A Survey of Culturable Fungal Endophytes From subsp. , a Grass From Marine Cliffs, Reveals a Core Microbiome.

subsp. is a perennial grass that inhabits sea cliffs of the Atlantic coasts of Europe. In this unhospitable environment plants grow in rock crevices and are exposed to abiotic stress factors such as low nutrient availability, wind, and salinity.

Near-infrared spectroscopy allows detection and species identification of Epichloë endophytes in Lolium perenne.

Background: Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) is systemically infected by seed-transmitted fungal endophytes (Epichloë sp.). The presence of Epichloë endophytes alters the nutritive quality of its hosts by modifying several plant traits.

Production of fumonisins by endophytic strains of Tolypocladium cylindrosporum and its relation to fungal virus infection.

Fumonisins were first discovered in Fusarium verticillioides, a fungus associated to disease and asymptomatic infections in maize. Afterwards, other fungal taxa have been found to produce fumonisins. The entomopathogenic ascomycete Tolypocladium cylindrosporum has been isolated from soil and also as an endophyte from leaves of grasses.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of endophyte alkaloids in perennial ryegrass using near-infrared spectroscopy.

Background: Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has been widely used in forage quality control because it is faster, cleaner and less expensive than conventional chemical procedures. In Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), one of the most important forage grasses, the infection by asymptomatic Epichloë fungal endophytes alters the plant nutritional quality due to the production of alkaloids. In this research, we developed a rapid method based on NIRS to detect and quantify endophyte alkaloids (peramine, lolitrem B and ergovaline) using a heterogeneous set of L.

Solutions to decrease a systematic error related to AAPH addition in the fluorescence-based ORAC assay.

Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay in 96-well multi-detection plate readers is a rapid method to determine total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in biological samples. A disadvantage of this method is that the antioxidant inhibition reaction does not start in all of the 96 wells at the same time due to technical limitations when dispensing the free radical-generating azo initiator 2,2'-azobis (2-methyl-propanimidamide) dihydrochloride (AAPH). The time delay between wells yields a systematic error that causes statistically significant differences in TAC determination of antioxidant solutions depending on their plate position.

Data on litter quality of host grass plants with and without fungal endophytes.

Certain Pooideae species form persistent symbiosis with fungal endophytes of Epichloë genus. Although endophytes are known to impact the ecology and evolution of host species, their effects on parameters related with quality of plant biomass has been elusive. This article provides information about parameters related with the quality of plant litter biomass of two important grass species (Schedonorus phoenix and Schedonorus pratensis) affected by the symbiosis with fungal endophytes (Epichloë coenophiala and Epichloë uncinata, respectively).

Fungal endophyte (Epichloë festucae) alters the nutrient content of Festuca rubra regardless of water availability.

Festuca rubra plants maintain associations with the vertically transmitted fungal endophyte Epichloë festucae. A high prevalence of infected host plants in semiarid grasslands suggests that this association could be mutualistic. We investigated if the Epichloë-endophyte affects the growth and nutrient content of F.

Germination of Medicago sativa is inhibited by soluble compounds in cement dust.

Deposition of cement dust on soils and plant surfaces is known to affect plant growth and the species composition of plant communities, but little is known about its effects (and those of its pH and constituents) on germination. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the toxicity of an aqueous cement extract, constituents of the extract and pH on the germination of seeds of a selected species, Medicago sativa. First, the effects of the extract were tested in assays with concentrations and exposure durations ranging from 0 to 1.

A spectroscopy approach to the study of virus infection in the endophytic fungus Epichloë festucae.

Background: In this work we propose a rapid method based on visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy to determine the occurrence of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses in Epichloë festucae strains isolated from Festuca rubra plants. In addition, we examined the incidence of infections by E. festucae in populations of F.

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy as a fast and non-destructive tool to predict foliar organic constituents of several woody species.

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to estimate N, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), lignin and cellulose contents in leaves of a heterogeneous group of 17 woody species from the Central Western region of the Iberian Peninsula. The sample set consisted of 182 samples of leaves of deciduous and evergreen species, showing a wide range of concentrations determined by reference methods: 6.60-35.

Use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy in predicting nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium contents in heterogeneous woody plant species.

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy was applied to determine nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) content in leaf samples of 18 woody species. A total of 183 samples from mountain, riparian and dry areas from the Central-Western Iberian Peninsula were collected for this purpose. The wide intervals of variation observed in nutrient concentrations (6.