Evolutionary agroecology: Trends in root architecture during wheat breeding.

ABSTRACT: Root system characteristics determine soil space exploration and resource acquisition, and these characteristics include competitive traits that increase individual fitness but reduce population performance. We hypothesize that crop breeding for increased yield is often a form of "group selection" that reduces such "selfish" traits to increase population yield. To study trends in root architecture resulting from plant breeding and test the hypothesis that increased yields result in part from group selection on root traits, we investigated root growth and branching behavior in a historical sequence of wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars that have been widely grown in northwestern China. Plants were grown in gel-filled chambers to examine growth angles, numbers, and lengths of seminal

SUBMITTER: Zhu YH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6439874 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature