Tall Fescue

Описание: Joanna visits with Ray Smith, UK Forage Specialist who talks about tall fescue.

Tall fescue is the most widely grown grass in Kentucky with over 5 million acres in hay and pasture fields. The main variety, KY-31, contains a fungal endophyte that helps the plant survive drought, overgrazing, insect attack and disease. It’s the reason KY-31 pastures and hayfields seems to live forever. This fungal endophyte in KY-31 can also reduce weight gains in cattle, reduce conception rates, and cause heat stress especially in the summer. This is called fescue toxicity. It is caused by the toxin ergovaline produced by the fungal endophyte. Adding clovers to pastures improves the overall quality of pastures, but also reduces the toxicity of tall fescue.
Maintaining the fescue pastures in a leafy stage by regular grazing and mowing can reduce fescue toxicity. New tall fescue varieties have recently been developed that contain a novel or beneficial endophyte that help the plant survive, but that don’t produce the toxin ergovaline that causes cattle toxicity. UK and the national Alliance for Grassland Renewal is hosting the “Novel Tall Fescue Renovation Workshop” March 20 in Princeton KY to show how to remove toxic KY-31 pastures and replace them with novel varieties like the recently released “Lacefield MaxQII Variety”. May not be part of the segment, but…. Interesting, turf type tall fescues have been developed that are very toxic, but this is a good thing to improve survival, drought tolerance, and insect damage in lawns. Turf type tall fescue should never be planted where livestock graze.

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Warren County Cooperative Extension Service
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