How did the domestication of Fertile Crescent grain crops increase their yields?

ABSTRACT: The origins of agriculture, 10 000 years ago, led to profound changes in the biology of plants exploited as grain crops, through the process of domestication. This special case of evolution under cultivation led to domesticated cereals and pulses requiring humans for their dispersal, but the accompanying mechanisms causing higher productivity in these plants remain unknown. The classical view of crop domestication is narrow, focusing on reproductive and seed traits including the dispersal, dormancy and size of seeds, without considering whole-plant characteristics. However, the effects of initial domestication events can be inferred from consistent differences between traditional landraces and their wild progenitors.We studied how domestication increased the yields of Fertile Crescent cere

SUBMITTER: Preece C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5324541 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature