09/05/07 Cheatgrass seed control?

It's a problem for land managers all over the West; how to stop the infestation of cheat grass. BECKSTEAD "We can spray chemicals. We can kill the adult plant, the plants that you see in the field but we don't have anything that we can actually kill the seeds." That's Gonzaga University biologist Julie Beckstead who, along with colleague David Boose, secured 247 thousand dollars in federal grants to conduct a three year study on the fungus they've dubbed the black fingers of death. That's the label that Beckstead has put on a naturally occurring fungus that attacks cheatgrass seeds. BECKSTEAD "So the name simply comes from these black, the reproductive structures of the fungus that are coming out of the seed." Beckstead says cheatgrass seeds that germinate quickly can survive the fungal attack, but slower-germinating seeds that carry over to the following year experience essentially a 100 percent mortality rate. The fungi vary in length depending on a variety of conditions, but they are often a half a centimeter long. You don't have to put it under a microscope to look at these organisms, they're visible to the naked eye. Beckstead says most of the seeds they collected with the fungus ended up dying but what about the fungal attack on other plants. BECKSTEAD "We need to know, what else can it infect?" More to that part of the story tomorrow. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott