Behavior of diploid annual rye grass (Lolium multiflorum) with and without endophyte (Epichloë occultans) growing under salinity conditions

DA SILVA, L; SANCHEZ, R; LAVANDERA, J; MACIEL, M; RÉ, A; ACUÑA, M.L

Córdoba

Simposio; FIRST PLANT BREEDING SYMPOSIUM; 2021

INTA

Introduction: diploid annual ryegrass is a highly-considered forage in the different cattle systems in Argentina.This is frequently infected by endophytic fungus Epichloë occultans, which apparently confers some tolerance to abiotic stress.Objective: the aim of this work was to study annual ryegrass behavior with and without endophyte, growing in salinity conditions.Materials and methods: this experiment was carried out in hydroponics controlled conditions in a greenhouse. Two naturalized Argentinian populations: Pipinas (P), Feliciano (F), and a cultivar Ribeye (R) were studied, with endophyte (+) and without endophyte (-) totalizing six treatments (P+; P-; F+; F-; R+; R-). The control treatment (T) was irrigated with Hoagland?s nutrient solution (Hoagland and Arnon, 1950) without NaCl supplementation. The T1 and T2 were irrigated with nutrient solution supplemented with 150 mM NaCl and 250 mM NaCl, respectively. The statistical design was in randomized complete block, with three replications. Plants were grown under their corresponding treatments for 20 days, tiller numbers (Mac), plant height in cm (Alt) were measuredevery 7 days and dry matter production in grams (PMS1) was measured on the 20th day. A principal components analysis was carried out with the software Infostat®.Results: there was a tendency to a better behavior of the germplasm with endophyte presence than without. The treatments were clearly separately, being the control the best situation with or without the endophyte. The T1 was better than T2 to discriminate the behavior of the population with or without endophyte.