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Division S-3—Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Pools in Response to Tall Fescue Endophyte Infection, Fertilization, and Cultivar

USDA-ARS, 1420 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville, GA 30677-2373

^* Corresponding author (afranz{at}uga.edu)

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is an important cool-season perennial forage used for grazing animals in the humid regions of the USA and throughout the world. The fungal endophyte Neotyphodium coenophialum Glenn, Bacon, & Hanlin naturally inhabits the majority of tall fescue stands producing a variety of alkaloids in leaf tissue that can cause animal health disorders on ingestion. We hypothesized that endophyte infection would modify the stock and activity of various soil C and N pools (total, particulate, microbial biomass, and mineralizable), but that fertilization (13.4–1.5–5.6 vs. 33.6–3.7–13.9 g N–P–K m^–2 yr^–1) and cultivar (‘Kentucky-31’, K-31; ‘AU-Triumph’; and ‘Johnstone’) might alter these responses. Soil organic C and total N at a depth of 0 to 20 cm under K-31 with high fertilization were greater with high (4197 g C m^–2 and 266 g N m^–2) than with low (3872 g C m^–2 and 242 g N m^–2) endophyte infection at the end of 20 yr. Under low fertilization, soil organic C and total N were not different between low and high endophyte infection. Differences in C and N pools among cultivars with low fertilization were as large as among K-31 fertilization-endophyte comparisons, but appeared to be related to factors other than endophyte infection frequency. Carbon and N contents of small macroaggregates (0.25–1.0 mm) were the only soil properties that were related (r = 0.70, P = 0.001) to endophyte infection frequency (range of 1–79%) across all treatments. Soil C and N pools can be modified by endophyte infection, but these results narrowed this phenomenon to (i) conditions of higher fertility and (ii) predominantly in small macroaggregates.

Abbreviations: K-31, ‘Kentucky-31’

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. J. Franzluebbers and N. S. Hill Soil Carbon, Nitrogen, and Ergot Alkaloids with Short- and Long-Term Exposure to Endophyte-Infected and Endophyte-Free Tall Fescue Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., March 1, 2005; 69(2): 404 - 412. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]