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                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Forage-animal Production Research: Lexington, KY
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ARS Home Midwest Area Lexington, Kentucky Forage-animal Production Research Research





- Dinkins, Randy
- Kagan, Isabelle
- Flythe, Michael
- Harlow, Brittany
- Klotz, James
- 2023
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- Publications
- Soil and Air (212)
- Food Animal Production (101)
- Grass, Forage, and Rangeland Agroecosystems (215)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Forage-animal Production Research** Project Number: 5042-21000-004-000-D
                        
                        Project Type: In-House Appropriated Start Date: Mar 12, 2019
                        
                        End Date: Jan 16, 2024 **Objective:**
                        
                        Objective 1: Improve the management and use of tall fescue as forage through improved understanding of interactions among tall fescue, endophytes (harmful and beneficial), and climate.

Objective 2: Improve pasture sustainability and enhance animal nutrition, health and performance by exploring and manipulating plant secondary metabolites.

Objective 3: Improve forage production and management by exploring and manipulating ruminant and non-ruminant gastrointestinal microbiology and manipulating interactions between plant primary and secondary metabolites and the digestive tracts 

Objective 4. Improve the contribution of red clover to pasture quality by enhancing stress resistance and root interactions with rhizobium.

Objective 5: Assemble and integrate current hemp related data and collect new data in collaboration with University partners to support hemp production modeling efforts at ARS Corvallis, OR. (NP215 C3, PS3B) 

Objective 6: Perform research to support the use of hemp and hemp residual biomass as a livestock feed, including exploration of possible benefits of compounds produced by hemp for animal production. (NP215 C4, PS4C) **Approach:**
                        
                        Experiments conducted to determine the changes in endophyte gene expression during infection of the ovary by comparing expression inflorescence primordial & ovary tissues to vegetative tissues, the lemma & palea of young florets & pseudostems (Ob. 1A). Experiments conducted to determine the effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during endophyte colonization of host ovaries & ovules using fluorescent tagged proteins to monitor expression (Obj 1A). Determine compatibility of 8 non-toxic producing endophyte strains with the Continental tall fescue variety by following endophyte transmission under field conditions using seed staining & immunoblot approaches (Obj 1A). Evaluate the effect of stress on the transmission of different endophyte strains under heat stress (Obj 1B). Growth, seed set & alkaloid production of different endophyte strains under stress conditions in the field will be conducted. Assess the relationship between pasture botanical composition & the ratio of cool season & warm season grasses of on-farm experiments during four years & correlate with changes observed from satellite imagery over longer time to provide producers with a measure of the change from cool season to warm season for the transition zone (Obj 1C).
Stability of isoflavones in storage evaluated by sampling fresh & field-cured (hay) material over time & under different drying & storage conditions (Obj 2A). Excreta from lambs or steers fed isoflavones or hops beta-acids evaluated for greenhouse gas emission (Obj 2B). Bioassay-guided fractionation applied to extracts of phenolic compounds from Lolium perenne to identify specific metabolites inhibiting ruminal hyper-ammonium-producing bacteria (Obj 2C). Isoflavone concentrations & profiles evaluated in clovers mutated in the isoflavone biosynthetic pathway (Obj 2D). Fructan concentrations & profiles determined in several cool-season grasses, & effects on growth of various ruminal bacteria (both mixed & pure cultures) assessed (Obj 3A). Lignin & arabinoxylan extracted from those cool-season grasses & a warm-season grass (Obj 3B). Effects of lignin & arabinoxylan profiles & concentrations on ruminal & equine hindgut bacteria characterized (Obj 3B). Mineral leaching compared from feces of steers & horses fed hay or grain diets (Obj 3C). Mineral leaching compared from feces of horses fed hay with a low or high fructan content (Obj 3C).
Characterize the mode of action for 2-4D resistance in red clover using a whole genome transcription approach to identifying differences between susceptible & resistant germplasm (Obj 4A). Characterize red clover growth parameters, N-fixation & whole genome transcription as affected by heat stress under field conditions (Obj 4B). Gene knock-out experiments will be conducted using the CRISPR/Cas9 system to genes known to affect root morphology & interaction with rhizobium explore interaction of red clover with different rhizobial strains (Obj 4C). Alternate polyadelynation will be evaluated to determine how alternative RNA processing that results in different protein products affects nodulation & nitrogen fixing efficiency (Obj 4C).


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