BACKGROUND AND AIMS Previous studies have shown that silica in grass leaves defends them against small herbivores, which avoid high-silica grasses and digest them less efficiently. This study tested the idea that silica can reduce digestibility by preventing the mechanical breakdown of chlorenchyma cells. METHODS Both the percentage of total chlorophyll liberated from high- and low-silica gra...

Establishment of perennial grass seedlings is critical for repairing rangeland ecosystems in the Western United States. Mineral N in the soil may be one of the controlling factors for seedling establishment and may improve the competitive ability of perennial grasses compared to the annual grass, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.). A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effects o...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Polyploidy is common in the grasses and low-copy nuclear loci are needed to further our understanding of phylogenetic relationships. METHODS AND RESULTS Genetic and genomic resources were combined to identify loci known to influence plant and inflorescence architecture. Degenerate primers were designed and tested to amplify regions of 11 nuclear-encoded loci across the pa...

Grasses of the subfamily Pooideae, including important cereal crops and pasture grasses, are widespread in temperate zones. Seasonal regulation of developmental transitions coordinates the life cycles of Pooideae with the passing seasons so that flowering and seed production coincide with favorable conditions in spring. This review examines the molecular pathways that control the seasonal flowe...

Rangeland management plan is one of the major means of management and utilization of rangelands in Iran. The formulation of these plans for the rangeland users should be studied from the ecological and socio-economic points of view. One of the main envisaged activities in almost all the management plans is the grazing system. An experiment was used to study the effects of three deferred grazing...