Physiological traits contribute to growth and adaptation of Mexican maize landraces.

ABSTRACT: Local adaptation of populations results from an interplay between their environment and genetics. If functional trait variation influences plant performance, populations can adapt to their local environment. However, populations may also respond plastically to environmental challenges, altering phenotype without shifting allele frequencies. The level of local adaptation in crop landraces and their capacity for plasticity in response to environmental change may predict their continued utility to farmers facing climate change. Yet we understand little about how physiological traits potentially underlying local adaptation of cultivars influence fitness. Farmers in Mexico-the crop center of origin for maize-manage and rely upon a high diversity of landraces. We studied maize grown in Chiapas,

SUBMITTER: Pace BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10833551 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature