This experiment was conducted to evaluate if consumption of endophyte-infected fescue alters digital circulation in the distal thoracic limb of the horse and to assess if soundness of the hooves of horses is affected by consumption of endophyte-infected fescue. Twelve American Quarter Horses (mean initial BW 459 ± 31 kg), 6 mares and 6 geldings, were used in this 90-d study that comprised high-...

Altered precipitation patterns due to climate change are likely impose water-deficit stress in plants resulting changes specific leaf mass, water content and chemical defences that may impact herbivorous arthropods. Grasses, particular, accumulate large concentrations of silicon (Si) which provides physical defence against herbivores. Although Si uptake by be affected availability, very few stu...

Chaparral herbicide has shown in small-plot experiments to suppress seed head emergence in tall fescue. A two-yr grazing experiment is being conducted with steers grazed on endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures that are either treated or untreated with Chaparral herbicide. The objective of the experiment is to determine if suppression of seed head emergence and maturity can increase average d...

Now days, turf management has encountered with water deficit, mostly due to low precipitation also industrial, agricultural and household demand and consumption. So, the objective of this project was to identify drought tolerance of warm and cool season turfgrass cultivars to different levels of regulated-deficit irrigation. The field experiment was set out in a split-plot based on completely r...

Grass tetany is a nutritional disease of ruminants caused by low dietary Mg. Previous research has shown that early spring P-fertilization increases the leaf Mg concentration of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) hay. However, little is known about how P-fertilization alters the mineral concentration of tall fescue under grazing. Our objective was to compare, under grazing, the Mg, K, Ca...

A linkage-based chewing device is proposed to perform standardised chewing for use in food evaluation. The linkage for chewing is firstly specified in terms of the trajectory of the first molar and the chewing force, according to the in vivo measurements of the human chewing ranging from grinding (or lateral chewing) to crunching (or vertical chewing). A fourbar linkage is synthesized to achiev...

An endophytic fungus found in Kentucky 31 (KY-31) tall fescue has been associated with the "summer syndrome" (fescue toxicity) in grazing cattle. Four experiments were conducted to investigate the use of weanling rats as an animal model to study the fescue toxicity syndrome. When graded levels of fungus-infected (INF) or fungus-free (FF) KY-31 seed were fed, feed intake and growth rates were in...

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is an open-pollinated, perennial, cool-season turf and forage grass species of great economic importance. The main problems of maintenance of tall fescue, and many other turfgrasses, are two severe fungal diseases: gray leaf spot caused by Magnaporthe grisea, and brown patch caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Three genes from various sources have been introd...

Grazing endophyte-infected tall fescue (E+) negatively impacts cattle feed intake and growth negatively (Crawford et al., 1989). However, the interaction between environmental factors and animal genetics may influence important cattle growth measurements before and after the weaning process (Phillips et al, 2001). For example, polymorphisms (mutations) in the prolactin and cytochrome P450 genes...