Working with officials in several states, researchers have reduced thistle populations in test plots by about 80 percent, saving taxpayers millions of dollars in maintenance costs along highways, including mowing and herbicide costs.
Nematodes reduce yields of many cereal grasses by laying eggs in the root systems of the plants.
Tall fescue plants infected with an endophytic fungus may naturally control nematodes by secreting an enzyme, chitinase, which seems to break down their eggs before they hatch. TAES plant pathologists are working to transfer this natural resistance into cereal grasses. TAES scientists have documented that the fungus that causes dogwood anthracnose can be spread by insects. This is significant to the nursery industry, as it proves that quarantines will not be an effective strategy for controlling the spread of the disease.