IFEVA   02662
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FISIOLOGICAS Y ECOLOGICAS VINCULADAS A LA AGRICULTURA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Interaction between plant genotype and the symbiosis with Epichloë fungal endophytes in seeds of red fescue (Festuca rubra).
Autor/es:
GUNDEL, P.E.; ZABALGOGEAZCOA, I. & B.R. VÁZQUEZ DE ALDANA.
Revista:
CROP & PASTURE SCIENCE
Editorial:
CSIRO PUBLISHING
Referencias:
Lugar: Collingwood; Año: 2011 vol. 62 p. 1010 - 1016
ISSN:
1836-5795
Resumen:
In diverse
natural habitats of Europe, plants of Festuca rubra are commonly infected by
the fungal endophyte Epichloë festucae. Under several circumstances, the
association between the grass and the fungus has been shown to be mutualistic.
Here, we conducted an experiment to study the differences in seed germination
and mortality between infected (E+) and endophyte-free plants (E) at different
temperatures (12 and 258C) and water potentials (0 and 0.5MPa). Three half-sib
lines of F. rubra, each composed of E+ and E seeds, and derived from infected plants
from semiarid grasslands were used. Although the endophyte effect depended on
the incubation condition, germination percentage was significantly greater for
E (52%) than for E+ seeds (41%). Seed germination was more inhibited by the
low water potential (75 v. 24% for 0.5 and 0.0MPa, respectively), than by the
high temperature (64 v. 35% for 25 and 128C, respectively). However, mortality
was highly dependent on the interaction between plant genotype and endophyte,
and between temperature and water condition. It is remarkable that while highly
dependent on the host genotype, there was a clear effect of endophyte
increasing seed survival, especially in those treatments that were unfavourable
for germination. For example, in the more restrictive treatment (258C and 0.5MPa),
seed survival was on average, 44 and 39% for E+ and E, respectively. In
general, the endophyte affected seed characteristics of F. rubra by reducing
the percentage of germination, but simultaneously increasing seed survival.