Diversity of Epichloë in Hordeum comosum from Patagonia, Argentina

VIGNALE, M.V.; MC CARGO, P.D.; CASAS C.; NOVAS, M.V.; GUNDEL P.E.; SCHNEIDER, H.; IANNONE L.J.

Congreso; 10th International Sympossium on Endophytes of Grasses; 2018

Hordeum comosum J. Presl is a native, perennial grass widespread in Patagonia and in the Andean region of South America. This species is forage grass, highly preferred by sheep. A previous local study [1], based on tubB and tefA phylogenies of isolates from northwestern Patagonia distinguished two hybrid lineages, one derived from E. amarillans x E. typhina and the other derived from E. typhina subsp. poae x E. festucae and identified as E. tembladerae.The objective of this work was to study, at regional scale, the diversity and the potential toxicity to cattle of Epichloë sp. in H. comosum along a gradient of aridity.An exhaustive survey of H. comosum covering an area of 60000 km² in Patagonia Argentina, that covered the previously studied area, was performed in January 2015. Four transects from extreme arid to sub-humid conditions (from 150 to 1200mm annual precipitation) and collection sites on each transect were established according to their mean annual precipitation (Wordclim). Each site was classified according to its aridity index (AI =Annual precipitation/Potential evapotranspiration) and classified as: arid, AI