Leadership
in endophyte technology
Taking endophytes from discovery to on-farm use
Discovery
- Identify and classifl endopyte strains
- How strains relate to one another
- Obtain an understanding of chemical compounds present
and relativity to standards in industry.
Chromatograms (HPLC) for lolitrems and epoxy-janthitrems
in endophyte infected herbage
Dendogram of genetic relationship of endophytes
of fescues and perennial ryegrass
 Cross
section through a perennial ryegrass tiller infected
with a N. lolii strain genetically modified to express
a green florescent protein. The endophyte strands, cut
at right angles, appear as green dots. In this tiller
few hyphae are present in the developing leaf blade.
The red colour comes from chlorophyll.
Commercialisation
 Products
- AR1, Endo5, AR37, MaxP®, MaxQ®- Technology patented or PVR
- Technology available in the following countries
- New Zealand
- Australia
- USA
- Chile
Development
- Screen endophyte strains for tolerance/resistance
of major temporate forage insect pests arronomically
- Evaluate in range of environments and management
- Tested for animal preformance and safety
ARI RYEGRASS ENDOPHYTE
How endophyte benefits lamb
production
Grow rates (g/day) of lambs grazing different endophyte
treatments
(Source: Lester Fletcher,
2004. Managing ryegrass/endophyte toxicoses. Proceedings
of the 5th International Grass/Endophyte Interactions
Symposium. In press)
| |
Mean of 8
ryegrass cultivars with AR1 |
Nui ryegrass without
endophyte |
Nui ryegrass with
wild-type endophyte |
% increase over
wild-type endophyte |
Summer/Autumn
lamb growth rate |
170 |
150 |
102 |
67% |
| LSD @ 5% 48.5 g/day |
How AR1 endophyte benefits dairy production,
compared with wild-type endophyte.
Seasonal milksolids production (kg/cow) over
thress seasons under rotational grazing of AR1 and wild-type
endophyte pasture in the Waikato.
(sorce: S.J. Bluett et al.,
2003. Milksolids production from cows grazing perennial
ryegrass containing AR1 or wild endophyte. Proceedings
of the NZ Grassland Association 65: 83-90.)
| Season |
AR1 |
Wild-type |
% increase over
wild-type endophyte |
Significance |
Spring
Milksolids |
157 |
147 |
6.8% |
† |
| Summer Milksolids |
110 |
103 |
6.8% |
* * |
| Autumn Milksolids |
50 |
44 |
13.6% |
* * |
Total
Milksolids |
318 |
292 |
8.9% |
* * |
Spring: July-Nov; Summer: Dec-Feb;
Autumn: Mar-May
NS = not significant; † = P<0.1; * = P<0.05;
P<0.01 |
Max Q® TALL FESCUE ENDOPHYTE
| 2-year
test result: Max
Q® |
KY31 |
average finish weight
average starting weight |
 |
| average
weight gain
191 lb |
89
lb |
| 2-year
return per acre US
$328.10 |
US
$153.37 |
| At an initial establishment cost for
MaxQ® of US$80 per acre (@ 20 lb per acre seeding
rate), the additional profit from grazing MaxQ®
is US$94.73 per acre. |
| |
|
|
Ryegrass with AR1 |
Tall fescue with Max P |
Ryegrass with AR6 |
|
Green plots AR1
Bare plots Nil endophyte |
|
Licensing Novel Endophytes
 STEP
ONE (INOCULATE)- Seed company's proprietary cultivar inoculated by
Grasslanz®
- Alkaloid profile of inoculated seedlings verified
- Seed transmission of endophyte verified
 STEP
TWO (TEST)- Agronomic testing by the seed company
- Animal safety test by Grasslanz®
- STEP THREE (LICENCE)
- Licence issued for a Novel Endophytic Cultivar to
the seed company
Production
 SEED
PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS- Sowing
- Management/fungicides
- Post-harvest management
- QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM
- Genetic integrity of endophytes
Current Funding Contributors
For Endophyte R & D
FRST, MWNZ, Grasslanz Technology, Agricom, PGG Wrightson
Seeds, AgResearch, DairyNZ |
