Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1960. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1909. / Reprinted from Bulletin no. 279, Cornell University Experiment Station, July, 1910. Bibliography: p. 350.

Diss. (sammanfattning). Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

La apertura del dosel del bosque generada por disturbios antrópicos o naturales provoca una alteración en las condiciones ambientales del sistema ecológico, modificando la cantidad y calidad de luz, las precipitaciones, y la temperatura. Los estudios realizados en este trabajo de tesis determinaron algunos de los cambios morfo-fisiológicos que permiten el crecimiento, desarrollo y reproducción de tres especies herbáceas, Osmorhiza depauperata, Phleum alpinum y Poa pratensis, en los ambientes boscosos modificados. Estas especies aumentan su cobertura luego de la cosecha forestal, y podrían evitar la erosión del suelo, y facilitar o competir con las plántulas que podrían contribuir a regenerar el bosque. En el bosque aprovechado forestalmente mediante la prescripción de retención variable se identificaron tres situaciones donde crecieron las plantas de las especies herbáceas: dentro de la retención agregada (RA), en el borde de la retención dispersa con influencia del agregado (BRA), y en la retención dispersa (RD). Además, se seleccionaron plantas del bosque primario (BP). Por otro lado, P. alpinum y P. pratensis fueron expuestas en el invernáculo a tres niveles de radiación incidente (I4: 4%; I26: 26%; I64: 64% de la luz solar incidente fuera del bosque en los diferentes ambientes), y dos niveles de contenido de humedad del suelo (M30: 30-50% y M60: 60-80% de capacidad de campo). Las intensidades lumínicas medidas siguieron el orden: RD > BRA > RA > BP. Las plantas de todas las especies modificaron su morfo-fisiología en los distintos ambientes. Estos cambios incluyeron modificaciones en el largo de las hojas, y por consiguiente su área foliar, aumentando en los ambientes con menor radiación (BP y RA). Asimismo, en estos ambientes disminuyeron el macollaje o la cantidad de tallos. Las plantas también incrementaron la densidad de longitud de raíces en respuesta al incremento en la disponibilidad de luz. Las diferencias entre especies se podrían deber a sus hábitos de crecimiento y a la proporción de raíces finas que producen. En O. depauperata el grado de infección por micorrizas vesículo-arbusculares fue mayor que en las especies de gramíneas P. alpinum y P. pratensis. Para todas las especies se encontró que el grado de infección tendió a incrementarse al aumentar la luz, aunque solo se encontró que fue significativamente menor en BP que en el resto de los ambientes. Todas las especies produjeron mayor cantidad de biomasa por unidad de superficie iv a medida que aumentó la irradiación: el orden de las especies estuvo inversamente relacionado con el tamaño del área basal, fue mayor en O. depauperata que en P. alpinum y P. pratensis. La cantidad de inflorescencias por unidad de área basal siguió la misma tendencia que la biomasa, y no se encontraron cambios en la proporción de inflorescencias por unidad de biomasa excepto en P. alpinum. En esta especie, esta variable fue menor en BP que en el resto de los ambientes. En P. pratensis el esfuerzo reproductivo fue mayor que en O. depauperata y P. alpinum. En invernáculo se demostró que la variable más importante que modificó el crecimiento de estas plantas fue la luz. El crecimiento disminuyó considerablemente en I4. Al disminuir la irradiación aumentó la proporción de área foliar, mediante un aumento del área foliar específica y un aumento de la proporción de biomasa foliar. Al mismo tiempo, aumentó la proporción de biomasa de tallo, y disminuyó la proporción de biomasa radical. Como resultado de estos cambios, las plantas en I26 lograron mantener una tasa de crecimiento relativa similar o superior a la de I64; sin embargo, dichos cambios no fueron suficientes para mantener la tasa de crecimiento relativa en I4. Asimismo, las especies mostraron cambios típicos a nivel fisiológico: al aumentar la irradiación aumentaron la tasa máxima de fotosíntesis y el punto de compensación lumínico. Se encontraron variaciones temporales que afectaron estos valores. Al aumentar la irradiación disminuyó el contenido de clorofila tanto por unidad de área como de peso fresco, y aumentaron las relaciones clorofila a/b y carotenoides/clorofila. Todos estos resultados indican que O. depauperata, P. alpinum y P. pratensis son capaces de aclimatarse a varias situaciones ambientales. Sin embargo, O. depauperata mostró una mejor capacidad de aclimatación a niveles de irradiación muy bajos, mientras que las especies de gramíneas apenas lograron sobrevivir dado que su crecimiento fue muy lento. / Canopy openings, whether they come from anthropic or natural disturbances, might change the environmental conditions of the ecological system, modifying light quantity and quality, precipitation and temperature. Some morpho-physiological changes that determine growth, development and reproduction of the three study herbaceous species, Osmorhiza depauperata, Phleum alpinum, Poa pratensis, were evaluated in the forest, modified environments. These species increase their coverage after forest harvesting, and could prevent soil erosion, and either facilitate or compete with seedlings that could contribute to regenerate the forest. Three environments where the herbaceous species often grow were identified in a forest previously harvested following the variable retention system. They were: within the aggregate retention (RA); on the edge of the dispersed retention under the influence of the aggregate (BRA), and dispersed retention (RD). Plants were also selected from a primary forest (BP). Furthermore, P. alpinum and P. pratensis were exposed to three levels of incident radiation (I4: 4%; I26: 26%, or I64: 64% of ambient sunlight outside the forest in the various environments) and two levels of soil moisture content (M30: 30-50% or M60: 60-80% of field capacity) under greenhouse conditions. Measured light intensities showed the following order: RD > BRA > RA> BP. Plants of all species modified their morpho-physiology in the different environments. These changes included variations in blade length, and subsequently in leaf area, increasing in the environments with lower radiation (BP and RA). Also, tillering and stem numbers decreased in these environments. Plant root length density increased as light availability also increased. Species differences could be due to their growth habits and the proportion of fine roots that they produce. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae colonization was greater in O. depauperata than in P. alpinum and P. pratensis. It also tended to decrease as light availability decreased for all species. However, it was only significantly lower in BP than in the remaining environments. Increased light availability determined a greater biomass production per unit surface area in all species: the species order was inversely related to size of the basal area. It was greater in O. depauperata than in P. alpinum and P. pratensis. The number of inflorescences per unit basal area followed the same trend as biomass and no changes were found in the proportion of vi inflorescences per unit biomass, except in P. alpinum. In this species, this variable was lower in BP than in the other environments. Reproductive effort was greater in P. pratensis than in O. depauperata and P. alpinum. Greenhouse experiments showed that light was the major variable that modified growth of the study species. Growth decreased significantly in I4. Increases in specific leaf area and the proportion of leaf biomass determined an increased proportion of leaf area under lower light availability. At the same time, stem biomass proportion increased and that of root biomass decreased. As a result of these changes, plant relative growth rate was similar or greater in I26 than in I64; however, they were not enough to maintain plant relative growth rate in I4. Also, the species showed typical physiological changes: maximum photosynthetic rate and light compensation point increased as light availability also increased. Values for these variables varied with time. Chlorophyll content per unit surface and fresh weight decreased, and chlorophyll a/b and carotenoid/chlorophyll ratios increased, as light availability increased. The results obtained in this study indicate that O. depauperata, P. alpinum and P. pratensis are able to acclimate to various environmental situations. However, O. depauperata showed a better acclimation capacity than the other species to very low levels of light availability, while the grass species just were able to survive under these conditions because of their very slow growth.

The prevalence of allergic disease is expected to increase with climate change. Grasses, which have highly allergenic pollen, are widely distributed across the globe. Changes in production and allergen content of grass pollen have not been specifically investigated. We tested the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone on growth, pollen and allergen production of Timothy grass (Phleum pratense L.). Timothy is also used as an agricultural forage crop so changes in plant productivity can also affect humans indirectly. Plants were fumigated in eight chambers at two concentrations of ozone (O3; 30 and 80 ppb) and carbon dioxide (CO2; 400 and 800 ppm) to simulate present and future projected levels. Destructive harvests were completed every three weeks to measure productivity. Pollen was collected in polyethylene bags placed around flowers and assessed for pollen number and concentration of the allergenic protein, Phl p 5. We found that elevated CO2 significantly increased the amount of pollen produced per flower regardless of O3 level. In addition, the amount of Phl p 5 allergen per flower was significantly increased in plants grown at elevated CO2 / low O3 conditions. We also found that plants grown in both elevated CO2 and elevated O3 increased the amount of pollen produced per weight of flower. The Phl p 5 allergen content per pollen grain was significantly reduced by elevated O3, as was flower length and weight. However, this was partially ameliorated by elevated CO2. Productivity was affected negatively by elevated O3 throughout the life cycle. CO2 increased shoot productivity during the intermediate stages of life and also ameliorated the negative impacts of elevated O3. We conclude that increasing levels of CO2 will cause a 2.5 times increase in Timothy grass pollen production thus increasing human airborne pollen exposure. Increases in pollen were likely a result of increased shoot biomass in the stages leading up to reproduction. If Timothy grass is a good model for other grasses, this portends for increased allergy suffering worldwide and an important health impact of global climate change.

Genetic material of Lithuanian origin varieties, breeding lines and wild ecotypes representing P. pratense, P. bertolonii and P. phleoides species were studied for the most important agro-morphological and feeding value indicators as well as at the genetic level employing different biochemical–molecular markers. The water stress experiment clearly demonstrated the existence of different levels of water stress response in Phleum species, suggesting that P. phleoides might have evolved under conditions of limited water availability. “Blind” mapping by HRM was used successfully to map water stress response genes of timothy in the perennial ryegrass mapping population. In total, 12 putative water stress response genes were mapped in seven perennial ryegrass linkage groups. / Pasitelkus agromorfologinius, kokybės ir biocheminius – molekulinius metodus ištirtos lietuviškos kilmės pašarinių, žemaūgių bei stepinių motiejukų veislės, selekcinės linijos bei laukiniai ekotipai. Fiziologiniai sausros atsparumo tyrimų rezultatai įrodė, kad stepiniai motiejukai turi geriau išvystytą atsparumo sausrai mechanizmą. Pirmą kartą motiejukuose aptikti ekspresuojami atsparumo sausrai kandidatiniai genai HRM metodu sužymėti daugiametės svidrės genolapyje.

Subtribe Alopecurinae (Poeae, Poaceae) sensu lato‘s seven genera share interesting morphological similarities (dense spicate panicles and one-flowered spikelets) that were widely thought to have a common origin. However, recent molecular evidence for three of the genera has suggested that the subtribe may be polyphyletic. To test this, five DNA regions were sequenced and analyzed using phylogenetic methods. Results confirm that Alopecurinae s.l. as presently treated is polyphyletic and should be dissolved. Additionally, the genus Cornucopiae may be just another Alopecurus. Limnas and Pseudophleum are not closely allied to Alopecurus or each other, and are even further from Phleum. Phleum is a distinct lineage that is not closely allied to any other included Alopecurinae genus. Evidence for revising infrageneric classifications of Alopecurus and Phleum is presented, as is evidence for separating A. magellanicus into two or more subspecies.

Subtribe Alopecurinae (Poeae, Poaceae) sensu lato‘s seven genera share interesting morphological similarities (dense spicate panicles and one-flowered spikelets) that were widely thought to have a common origin. However, recent molecular evidence for three of the genera has suggested that the subtribe may be polyphyletic. To test this, five DNA regions were sequenced and analyzed using phylogenetic methods. Results confirm that Alopecurinae s.l. as presently treated is polyphyletic and should be dissolved. Additionally, the genus Cornucopiae may be just another Alopecurus. Limnas and Pseudophleum are not closely allied to Alopecurus or each other, and are even further from Phleum. Phleum is a distinct lineage that is not closely allied to any other included Alopecurinae genus. Evidence for revising infrageneric classifications of Alopecurus and Phleum is presented, as is evidence for separating A. magellanicus into two or more subspecies.

Despite the importance of a high white clover (Trifolium repens) content in temperate pastoral systems in terms of livestock performance and nitrogen fixation, the proportion of white clover in grass-clover pastures is often low (<20%). This thesis examined in two experiments whether the white clover content of pastures could be improved by sowing white clover with alternative grass species to diploid perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). In a pasture experiment, DM production, pasture composition and morphology of grass-clover mixtures was measured over the establishment year (January 2007 to January 2008) where white clover was sown in fine mixtures with diploid perennial ryegrass, tetraploid perennial ryegrass, timothy (Phleum pratense L.) and cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.). Pastures were irrigated and rotationally grazed with on-off grazing with Coopworth ewe hoggets. Total annual DM production of pasture was more than 20% higher in tetraploid (12521 kg DM ha⁻¹) and diploid (11733 kg DM ha⁻¹) perennial ryegrass than timothy (9751 kg DM ha⁻¹) and cocksfoot (9654 kg DM ha⁻¹). However, timothy (5936 kg DM ha⁻¹) and cocksfoot (5311 kg DM ha⁻¹) had more than four times higher white clover annual DM production than tetraploid (1310 kg DM ha⁻¹) and diploid (818 kg DM ha⁻¹) ryegrass. Pasture growth rate at the first three harvests in autumn was significantly greater in tetraploid and diploid ryegrass than timothy and cocksfoot. Timothy and cocksfoot had a higher proportion of white clover than tetraploid and diploid perennial ryegrass throughout the entire year. This was due to more and larger white clover plants in timothy and cocksfoot plots. In a grazing preference experiment, the partial preference of sheep for white clover offered in combination with the same grass species as in the pasture experiment was measured in five grazing tests in May, September, October, November and December 2007. Pastures were sown in January 2007. Paired plots (grass and clover both 4.2 m x 10 m) were grazed by three Coopworth ewe hoggets between 9am and 5pm, and preference was recorded by decline in pasture mass and visual scan sampling for grazing time. Grazing preference for clover was generally low throughout these tests (e.g. average apparent DM intake from clover = 47%; average grazing time from clover = 44%). Several explanations are proposed for this low preference including a high N content and intake rate of the grass relative to the clover. No significant differences were found among the grass treatments in total grass grazing time, total clover grazing time, ruminating time, the proportion of grazing time on clover, selective coefficient for clover and DM intake percentage from clover at any date. There was no significant change in overall sward surface height (SSH) decline among grass treatments throughout all the tests except December 2007 when the overall SSH decline for cocksfoot was significantly lower than the other species. The study indicated that the rapid growth rate of perennial ryegrass in the early phase of pasture establishment, rather than differences in partial preference, was the key factor limiting white clover content in the mixed swards relative to cocksfoot and timothy pastures. It is concluded that high clover-containing pastures capable of delivering high per head performance can be established through the use of slow establishing pasture species such as timothy and cocksfoot.