Livestock Deaths Associated withClavibacter toxicus/Anguinasp. Infection in Seedheads ofAgrostis avenaceaandPolypogon monspeliensis

Flood plain staggers, a recently discovered poisoning of livestock, has been linked to Clavibacter toxicus infection in the seedheads of blown grass, Agrostis avenacea, in northern New South Wales and annual beardgrass, Polypogon monspeliensis, in the southeast of South Australia. The same bacterium on annual ryegrass, Lolium rigidum, causes the poisoning of livestock known as annual ryegrass toxicity. Strains of C. toxicus from A. avenacea and P. monspeliensis were indistinguishable from strains from L. rigidum based on colony morphology, serological reactions, and bacteriophage specificity (.)