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Proceedings
INVESTIGATIONS ON SEED-BORNE FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES OF GRASSES IN ITALY
E. Piano
Istituto Sperimentale per le Colture Foraggere, viale Piacenza 29, 26900 Lodi, Italy
Plant-endophyte interaction studies have raised a significant interest only recently in Italy. Surveys on commercial cultivars of tall fescue and perennial ryegrass revealed a limited proportion of endophyte-infected varieties. These results contrast with the situation found in natural populations. In tall fescue, 63 Mediterranean type population collected in Sardinia resulted all infected. Interestingly, mostly of the populations had levels of seed infection from 70% to 100%. First evidence has been acquired that these Mediterranean populations host an endophyte apparently distinct from the isolates of Neotyphodium coenophialum currently found in North-European tall fescue germplasm. Research is in progress to characterize plant-endophyte interaction effects in this specific association. The recent activation of a National turf-grass improvement project is stimulating a range of studies on exploitation of grass-endophyte mutualistic associations.
Keywords: endophytes; Neotyphodium; animal toxicoses; Festuca arundinacea; Lolium perenne; seed pathology; wild populations.