Tall fescue boosting fungus thrives in dry, hot conditions

摘要

BY NOW you may have seen some advertising for tall fescue that contains a "novel endophyte" called MaxP. This could well be a great step forward for livestock farming in dryland areas. There are two natural partnerships that give farming in Australiaand New Zealand great benefits - legumes and their nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and grasses containing an endophyte fungus. The endophyte fungus was first identified by New Zealand scientists in the 1930s. Its effects lay undiscovered until 1980 when two researchers at the Department of Scientific Research (DSIR), based at Lincoln in the South Island, noticed sheep suffering ill-thrift while grazing one perennial ryegrass pasture but not in the neighbouring rye-grass pasture.