Effects of the Neotyphodium endophyte status on plant performance of Bromus auleticus, a wild native grass from South America

Abstract

In this work, the hypothesis that endophytes increase plant performance of Bromus auleticus, a native grass from South America was tested. Seed weight, seedling emergence, development, and plant vegetative propagation were compared in plants from uninfected (E–), partially infected (E+/–) or infected (E+) seed lots. The hypothesis that endophytes confer resistance to defoliation in one-year-old plants was also tested. Seed lots were collected in different grass populations in the Pampean region in Argentina. E+ lots presented both lighter seeds and lighter and shorter ten-day-old seedlings than E+/– and E– lots. E+ and E+/– lots presented higher percentage and rate of emergence, as well as less time of emergence, than E– seed lots. Plants from E+ lots produced more tillers in a year than E+/– and E– plants. Resistance to defoliation was analysed in plants from one E+ and one E– lot. Infected plants were more resistant to defoliation than E– plants. Our results allowed a preliminary characterisation of this endophyte-plant association. Plants from E+ and E+/– lots presented some advantageous characteristics with regards to seed dispersion, vegetative propagation and resistance to defoliation.