title: The microbiome of perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne L.

authors: Prout, Bernadette

subjects: Perennial ryegrass

abstract: Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most critical agricultural plant supporting New Zealand’s intensive pasture-based dairy industry. A substantial body of research exists on the physiology, genetics, and management of perennial ryegrass; however, the perennial ryegrass microbiome has not yet been investigated in detail. Poor persisting perennial ryegrass pastures are ongoing in some areas of the country. Microbiome research has already targeted one pasture persistence problem by applying Epichloë endophytes to combat invertebrate pest herbivory. The success of Epichloë encourages future research to explore additional microorganism applications to mitigate other significant contributors to poor pasture persistence, such as drought and water stress. This study explores the bacterial and fungal communities associated with the perennial ryegrass cultivar/Epichloë combination, One50 AR37. In total, 80 samples were collected from plots across four different New Zealand farming regions during April/May 2021 and examined alongside spatial, environmental, and host-plant-related metadata. Cultivation-independent methods, including DNA extraction, 16S and ITS rRNA gene PCR amplicon sequencing analysis (via amplicon sequence variants - ASVs), were used to characterise the perennial ryegrass bacterial and fungal communities. The below-ground (bulk soil, rhizosphere, and root endosphere) compared to the aboveground (shoot endosphere and phyllosphere) perennial ryegrass microbiome habitats represented significantly different ecological niches, correlating to differences in ASV richness, alpha and beta diversity, and the relative abundance of dominant genera. This study demonstrated evidence that the perennial ryegrass microbiome is strongly influenced by farming location and management practices. The large proportion of unique, site-specific taxa found at each farming location holds the potential to explain differences in pasture productivity and persistence. Location differences indicate that future microbiome research should compare ryegrass pastures on a regional basis rather than extrapolating the results to all New Zealand farming locations. A core microbiome was not identified in the current study; however, there is evidence for a wider functional selection of taxa across the individual microbiome habitats. Future studies should incorporate metagenomic sequencing to better understand the functional microbiome trends rather than solely focusing on taxa composition. This study provides the foundation for future perennial ryegrass research as it confirms the general trends and common taxa associated with the five microbiome habitats of this important pasture plant. Future pasture persistence research should compare the microbiome of high producing / persistent ryegrass pastures with low-producing ryegrass pastures whilst controlling as many variables as possible. Bacteria of interest, such as Bacillus and Pseudomonas, should be explored in greater detail at the species level and isolated and applied in manipulative trials to assess the effects on ryegrass production and persistence.

text: The microbiome of perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne L. Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is the most critical agricultural plant supporting New Zealand’s intensive pasture-based dairy industry. A substantial body of research exists on the physiology, genetics, and management of perennial ryegrass; however, the perennial ryegrass microbiome has not yet been investigated in detail. Poor persisting perennial ryegrass pastures are ongoing in some areas of the country. Microbiome research has already targeted one pasture persistence problem by applying Epichloë endophytes to combat invertebrate pest herbivory. The success of Epichloë encourages future research to explore additional microorganism applications to mitigate other significant contributors to poor pasture persistence, such as drought and water stress. This study explores the bacterial and fungal communities associated with the perennial ryegrass cultivar/Epichloë combination, One50 AR37. In total, 80 samples were collected from plots across four different New Zealand farming regions during April/May 2021 and examined alongside spatial, environmental, and host-plant-related metadata. Cultivation-independent methods, including DNA extraction, 16S and ITS rRNA gene PCR amplicon sequencing analysis (via amplicon sequence variants - ASVs), were used to characterise the perennial ryegrass bacterial and fungal communities. The below-ground (bulk soil, rhizosphere, and root endosphere) compared to the aboveground (shoot endosphere and phyllosphere) perennial ryegrass microbiome habitats represented significantly different ecological niches, correlating to differences in ASV richness, alpha and beta diversity, and the relative abundance of dominant genera. This study demonstrated evidence that the perennial ryegrass microbiome is strongly influenced by farming location and management practices. The large proportion of unique, site-specific taxa found at each farming location holds the potential to explain differences in pasture productivity and persistence. Location differences indicate that future microbiome research should compare ryegrass pastures on a regional basis rather than extrapolating the results to all New Zealand farming locations. A core microbiome was not identified in the current study; however, there is evidence for a wider functional selection of taxa across the individual microbiome habitats. Future studies should incorporate metagenomic sequencing to better understand the functional microbiome trends rather than solely focusing on taxa composition. This study provides the foundation for future perennial ryegrass research as it confirms the general trends and common taxa associated with the five microbiome habitats of this important pasture plant. Future pasture persistence research should compare the microbiome of high producing / persistent ryegrass pastures with low-producing ryegrass pastures whilst controlling as many variables as possible. Bacteria of interest, such as Bacillus and Pseudomonas, should be explored in greater detail at the species level and isolated and applied in manipulative trials to assess the effects on ryegrass production and persistence.

year: 2022

title: The Denominator problem: Energy demand in a sustainable energy policy

authors: Barton, Barry

abstract: Often when people think of policy for long-term sustainability they think of energy supply and not energy demand. What comes to mind often are new sources of supply on the very edge of technology, such as shale gas and deep-sea oil resources; or it may be renewable energy sources, such as hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels. But if people focus exclusively or excessively on supply, they are overlooking the demand side. How much energy must we produce in order to meet our human and economic needs? What assumptions are we making about future energy demand? In regard to a particular energy project going through an environmental impact assessment process, how do we evaluate whether the project is necessary?

text: The Denominator problem: Energy demand in a sustainable energy policy Often when people think of policy for long-term sustainability they think of energy supply and not energy demand. What comes to mind often are new sources of supply on the very edge of technology, such as shale gas and deep-sea oil resources; or it may be renewable energy sources, such as hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels. But if people focus exclusively or excessively on supply, they are overlooking the demand side. How much energy must we produce in order to meet our human and economic needs? What assumptions are we making about future energy demand? In regard to a particular energy project going through an environmental impact assessment process, how do we evaluate whether the project is necessary?

year: 2013

title: Editorial: Culturally responsive research and pedagogy

authors: Kostogriz, Alex

abstract: This special and extra issue of English Teaching: Practice and Critique had its origins in an international symposium held in the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato in November, 2010. The Faculty had already established a tradition of hosting conferences on the theme of language, education and diversity, which had been organised in 2003 and 2007 with input from the Departments of Arts and Language Education, Applied Linguistics and representatives from tainui iwi, and in recognition of the University of Waikato’s strengths in respect of bicultural and multicultural education. In 2010, the thematic focus shifted from a specific focus on language to a broader.

text: Editorial: Culturally responsive research and pedagogy This special and extra issue of English Teaching: Practice and Critique had its origins in an international symposium held in the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato in November, 2010. The Faculty had already established a tradition of hosting conferences on the theme of language, education and diversity, which had been organised in 2003 and 2007 with input from the Departments of Arts and Language Education, Applied Linguistics and representatives from tainui iwi, and in recognition of the University of Waikato’s strengths in respect of bicultural and multicultural education. In 2010, the thematic focus shifted from a specific focus on language to a broader.

year: 2011