What is Endophyte
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Endophyte is a naturally occurring fungus whose complete life cycle occurs within grasses such as perennial ryegrass, meadow fescue and tall fescue. Most New Zealand ryegrass pastures are infected with endophyte to those in grasses. Similar endophytes to those in ryegrass are also found in other forage grasses such as tall fescue.
The endophyte fungus grows between the cells of the host plant, drawing nutrients from it but in return conferring resistance to insect pests, drought tolerance, and protection from overgrazing – a relationship known as symbiosis.
Endophytes produce chemical compounds known as alkaloids, which confer pasture pest resistance, but which can also cause animal health problems. Peramine deters, in particular, feeding and egg laying of Argentine stem weevil, but has no known effects on animal health. Lolitrems deter Argentine stem weevil larvae feeding, but cause ryegrass staggers. Ergovaline gives resistance to black beetle, but causes heat stress, especially in warm, humid conditions, and fescue toxicosis.
AR37 Ryegrass Endophyte 
AR37 has a number of benefits including improved insect resistance, livestock performance in pure sward and agronomic performance.
AR37 can cause ryegrass staggers. To date no ryegrass staggers have been reported on cows grazing AR37 ryegrass.
Ryegrass with AR37 has resistance to a wider range of insects than all other commercially available endophytes.
AR37 Provides Resistance to these Key Pests below:
* Early field trial results confirmed laboratory evidence of resistance of ryegrass with AR37 to porina.
To find out more about AR37 click here or visit www.ar37.co.nz
AR1 Ryegrass Endophyte 
Ryegrass with AR1 has become very popular in some regions as it has been proven in research to produce up to 8-10% more milk in dairy cows and up to 82% more liveweight gain in sheep compared with standard endophyte grass. Returns on dairy farms have been calculated at $1085/ha over five years for just an extra 40/ha investment.
AR1 novel endophyte has a strong effect on Argentine stem weevil and pasture mealy bug. Ryegrass without endophyte has no protection from these insects.
Insects affected by AR1 are shown below:
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Argentine Stem Weevil |
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To find out more about AR1 click here
Tall Fescue Endophyte MaxP®
MaxP® is a novel endophyte for tall fescue, developed by AgResearch Grasslands. As with AR1 in ryegrass, MaxP® is a selected fungus that lives inside the seed and plant tissue of infected plants. It is available in the Agricom tall fescue cultivar Advance.
Insects affected by MaxP are shown below:
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Black Beetle
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Argentine Stem Weevil
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Root Aphid
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Pasture Mealy Bug
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To find out more about MaxP® click here