Polyacrylamide Isoelectric Focusing Electrophoresis for Differentiating Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue by Esterase Enzyme

Polyacrylamide isoelectric focusing electrophoresis (PA-IEF) provides alternative or supplementary testing for identifying the Kentucky 31 variety of tall fescue. Over a two-year period, field grow-out tests and a novel use of PA-IEF gel electrophoresis procedures were compared for 276 tall fescue samples. The PA-IEF gel test clearly identified a unique 4-band pattern in the Kentucky 31 variety, which was not detected in 21 other commercial varieties of tall fescue. This unique 4-band pattern can be used to differentiate between Kentucky 31 and other tall fescue varieties. Finally, the method provided results over a much shorter time frame than field grow-out tests.