Subject: Re: Endophyte Testing Lab

From: C. West <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 13:22:21 -0600

Don, and anyone else:

There are several universities in the southern U.S. where endophyte testing
is done, but I will only speak for ours.  My lab runs analysis on fescue and
ryegrass live plant samples for endophyte at $20 per sample.  One sample
consists of 50, 2-inch tiller bases.  Follow this procedure:
1. Choose well-formed (not real young) vegetative tillers, preferably not
tillers with elongated stems.  We want green, succulent tillers that are not
juvenile.  Also, avoid taking more than one tiller per plant by spacing your
samplings far apart.
2. Detach  as close to the crown as possible, i.e. at the point of
attachment to the adjacent tillers of the same plant.  That may be slightly
below ground level.
3. Cut off the tiller top so that only the basal 2 inches remain.  Remove
dead leaf sheaths from that 2-inch tiller base.
4. Collect 50 such tillers across the field.  As you would with soil
sampling, fields of different management histories or different animal
response histories should be made separate samples.
5. Wrap tiller bases in a moist paper towel and seal in a zip-lock plastic
bag.  Mail to the address below with a check for $20 per sample (make out
check to: University of Arkansas).  Include phone number, email address
and/or mailing address of consulting agent and landowner so that we can
transmit the result back immediately.  The result will be a frequency number
expressed as the percentage of tillers showing a positive test for endophyte
presence.  It does not indicate level of alkaloids or toxicity.
  Send to:
        Forage Lab, c/o Melody Marlatt
        University of Arkansas
        276 Altheimer Dr.
        Fayetteville, AR  72704-6804
It is not necessary to send by overnight mail because properly packaged
tillers handle the shipping just fine.

Chuck West
Professor, Forages
University of Arkansas

At 09:58 AM 3/8/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Greetings. I had a message left for me recently asking where there was a
>lab that could test for endophyte, I presume in tall fescue, although the
>message didn't say that. I know there is nothing here in British Columbia,
>so I would be grateful for any leads from readers of this message. Thanks
>very much.
>
>Don Bates