High molecular weight fructans are the main class of water-soluble carbohydrate used for energy storage in many temperate grass species including perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). As well as being important readily mobilisable energy reserves for the plant, fructans are also involved in stress tolerance. Fructans are also readily digested by grazing ruminants and hence are a valuable sour...

Multicenter Study on the Prevalence of Perennial Allergic Rhinitis and Allergy-Associated Disorders This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) using the skin test, radioallergosorbent test (RAST), or multiple allergosorbent test (MAST) and to clarify the clinical aspects of the patients diagnosed as having PAR by the questionnaire survey and rhinologic...

B ioenergy production—either for fuels or electricity—is the most land intensive form of energy production (1). The consequences of increased demand for land associated with bioenergy crops initially gained attention because of the implications for carbon emissions associated with land clearing (2, 3), but, more recently, the potential impacts of bioenergy’s land demand on biodiversity have gai...

In Japan, seasonal allergic rhinitis in the spring due to exposure to Japanese cedar or Japanese cypress pollen is common. However, the allergic profile for perennial allergens in spring pollinosis remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the allergic profiles of 652 patients with rhinitis. Total serum IgE, serum-specific IgE, and blood eosinophil counts were measured. Allergi...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Archaeological and genetic analyses of seed-propagated annual crops have greatly advanced our understanding of plant domestication and evolution. Comparatively little is known about perennial plant domestication, a relevant topic for understanding how genes and genomes evolve in long-lived species, and how perennials respond to selection pressures operating on a relatively ...

Theoretical and empirical work has established a positive relationship between resource availability and habitat invasibility. For nonnative invasive annual grasses, similar to other invasive species, invader success has been tied most often to increased nitrogen (N) availability. These observations have led to the logical assumption that managing soils for low N availability will facilitate re...

Temperate grassland ecosystems face a future of precipitation change, which can alter community composition and ecosystem functions through reduced soil moisture and waterlogging. There is evidence that functionally diverse plant communities contain a wider range of water use and resource capture strategies, resulting in greater resistance of ecosystem function to precipitation change. To inves...

Economics needs no special excuse to study the determinants of saving. It is one of those perennial questions always on the agenda. I remember being taught that the Founding Fathers, among them Hume and Smith, had definite views about saving behavior. (I even think I remember being taught that they held a rather sociological theory--thrifty bourgeois merchants, spendthrift hereditary landlords-...

Whole-genome sequences established for model and major crop species constitute a key resource for advanced genomic research. For outbreeding forage and turf grass species like ryegrasses (Lolium spp.), such resources have yet to be developed. Here, we present a model of the perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) genome on the basis of conserved synteny to barley (Hordeum vulgare) and the model gra...

Many western grasslands and scrublands are being overrun by Mediterranean annual grasses that are a limiting impediment to grassland restoration throughout the western United States (Kay et al. 1981; Dyer and Rice 1997, 1999; Brown and Rice 2000). Conserving and restoring these invaded ecosystems are important biodiversity goals. Restoring perennial grasslands can also increase the forage quali...