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Gramine in Barley Forage - Effects of Genotype and Environment¹

Consumption of reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) containing about 2,000 µg dry wt or more of the indole alkaloid gramine can adversely affect ruminant performance. Because gramine occurs in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaves, 20 cultivars of barley and four races of Hordeum spontaneum Koch were analyzed for gramine and related alkaloids after growth in controlled environments (21/16 C, day/night) to the fourleaf stage. Shoot gramine levels ranged from <30 to >10,000 µg/dry wt; 10 ‘high-gramme’ genotypes (six H. vulgare, four H. spontaneum) contained at least 2,000 µg/g. Other indole alkaloids were absent or present only in trace amounts.

Beginning at the two-leaf stage, the high-gramine barley cultivars ‘Arimar’ and ‘Maraini’ were grown for 2 weeks at 21/16 C and 30/25 C, with either adequate or limited water supply. Growth of both cultivars at the higher temperatures approximately doubled their gramine concentrations (to about 4,000 µg/g). Cyclic wilting, which resulted from limiting irrigation, did not greatly affect gramine concentrations. In a cool, spring, field planting at a loamy, non-irrigated site, the gramine concentration in Arimar shoots was 1,700 µg/g at the three-to-four-leaf stage, but fell to 200 µg/g at the six leaf stage. In a warm, summer, field planting at a sandy irrigated site, the gramine concentrations at both three-to-four and six-leaf stages were 2,700 µg/g in Arimar and 4,500 µg/g in Maraini.

Gramine merits attention as a potential anti-quality factor in breeding programs for barley suited to grazing or other forage uses.

Key Words: Forage quality • Heat stress • Hordeumspp., • Indole alkaloids • Water stress

² Assistant professor, graduate assistant, and technician, Michigan State Univ., Dep. of Energy Plant Res. Lab.; and assistant professor, Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI 48824.

Received for publication January 9, 1981.

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