Abstract Turfgrass is the number one irrigated crop in the United States. Lawn care regimes require high chemical fertilizer and water inputs. Endophytes, defined as microorganisms that live within plants, have the potential to decrease the high water and high fertilizer requirements of turfgrass. This study evaluated the inoculation of multiple mutualistic endophytes on a commonly planted turfgrass mix in field trials. Previous studies, in greenhouse and lab settings, found these same endophytes increase drought tolerance and grass greenness. Nine 3 ft by 3 ft turfgrass plots were inoculated with an endophyte consortium in the spring and fall of 2017. Inoculated plots were compared with non-inoculated controls for overall chlorophyll content, overall plot greenness, and mean total height accumulation. The results of the study indicated that there was no significant effect of endophyte inoculations on the turfgrass. Additionally, endophytes were extracted, cultured and sequenced from the plots two months post inoculation. The endophytes applied were not detected, indicating that they were unable to survive the entire growing season within the turfgrass. The current research will be one of the first studies to show that endophytes, inoculated onto a novel host, were unable to survive field conditions in a perennial crop and yield the benefits that were observed in vitro and in greenhouse trials. Future research should evaluate the success of these endophytes on other plant species in the field and in non-limiting environments and run a quantitative PCR experiment using isolate specific primers to determine endophyte survival over time in the field.

中文翻译：

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草坪上固氮内生菌的田间接种

摘要 草坪草是美国排名第一的灌溉作物。草坪护理制度需要大量的化肥和水投入。内生菌，定义为生活在植物内的微生物，有可能降低草坪草的高水和高肥料需求。本研究评估了在田间试验中在常见种植的草坪草混合物上接种多种互惠内生菌的情况。之前在温室和实验室环境中的研究发现，这些相同的内生菌提高了耐旱性和草绿色。在 2017 年春季和秋季，九个 3 英尺 x 3 英尺的草坪草地块接种了内生菌群落。 将接种地块与未接种的对照进行了比较，了解总体叶绿素含量、整体地块绿度和平均总高度积累。研究结果表明，内生菌接种对草坪草没有显着影响。此外，在接种后两个月从地块中提取、培养和测序内生菌。未检测到应用的内生菌，表明它们无法在草坪草内存活整个生长季节。目前的研究将是首批表明接种到新宿主上的内生菌无法在多年生作物的田间条件下存活并产生在体外和温室试验中观察到的益处的研究之一。