Fungal endophyte link with meat quality?

Press, 9 December 1988, Page 30

Fungal endophyte link with meat quality?

Meat quality is being affected by the same endophyte which causes ryegrass staggers, according to D.S.LR. research.

Mr Lester Fletcher, a technician with the Grasslands Division at Lincoln, said research into the endophyte’s effect on meat quality was in its early stages. Some “very interesting” results had already been found but he was not willing to elaborate “at this stage.” More research was needed and substantive data collected before definite conclusions could be drawn. Mr Fletcher indicated the research centred on the state of lambs soon before they were slaughtered. “The pre-slaughter condition of lambs can make a difference in meat quality. What happens to lambs in the last 24 hours of their lives can make a big difference.” He said many farmers saw the effects of ryegrass staggers as sheep staggering and falling over. Animals could be affected by staggers for some time before symptoms became that obvious. “It is a gradual buildup. A layman might not notice it but I’ve noticed Sheep become quite

stressed. There is a lot of nervous tension and trembling and sheep are being killed in that state.” He said it had already been known there was a difference -in hormones produced by sheep feeding on high endophyte ryegrass. The effect of that difference on meat quality was now being studied. Research at Lincoln had also shown a difference in growth weights for stock on low endophyte pastures and those

on high endophyte feed. In one year, lambs at 12 weeks on low endophyte pasture weighed 3kg more than those on high endophyte pasture. In a trial the following year, the weight difference was I.skg which increased to 2kg by mid-January. But if lambs were not quit before Christmas and carried through to bigger weights, the greater the chance of the weight difference becoming negligible or even reversing. The less persistent, low endophyte pasture could die away during a dry summer or suffer attack from Argentine stem weevil, while high endophyte pasture continued to thrive. Stock left on high endophyte pasture would also run the risk of contracting staggers. “Just because sheep are grazing high endophyte pasture does not mean they will necessarily develop staggers. There are some things that seem to make it worse, but the longer they graze it, the greater the risk,” Mr Fletcher said. The work by the Grasslands Division at Lincoln on the effects of the endophyte attracted Professor

Ed Piper, from the University of Arkansas, to join the research. The United States had a similar problem with its wild tall fescues which contained an endophyte. Similarities between ryegrass staggers and fescue toxicosis in cattle had been noticed. “The more we work through it, the more similarities we find,” said Professor Piper. “Alkaloids present in fescue toxicosis are also present in ryegrass staggers. We know alkaloids affect brain function and we were interested to see if the same thing goes on in sheep, particularly with meat quality because the same inference on quality has been made in the U.S.” About 14 million hectares of pasture in the United States contained wild fescues which were “chock full” of endophyte. “If we take the endophyte out of the fescue, we have difficulty in maintaining pasture,” said Professor Piper. “A lot of the research in the two countries is very similar so I am quite interested in the work here,” he said.