Seed weight is a very important and complex trait in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). The seed weight of rapeseed shows great variation in its natural germplasm resources; however, the morphological, cytological and genetic causes of this variation have remained unclear. In the present study, nine highly pure inbred rapeseed lines with large seed weight variation and different genetic backgrounds ...

The host range of the corn cyst nematode, Heterodera zeae, recently detected in Maryland, was investigated. A total of 269 plant entries, representing 68 families, 172 genera, and 204 species, was inoculated with cysts or a mixture of eggs and second-stage juveniles of H. zeae. The host range of the Maryland population of H. zeae was limited to plants of the Gramineae and included 11 tribes, 33...

Analysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from...

abstract a sub-sample of lentil (lens culinaris medik. cv. kimia) seeds was kept as bulk (s1) and another sample was separated to large (s2) and small (s3) seeds. a sub-sample of each size was kept as control or high vigor seed lot (a1) and the two other sub-samples were artificially aged for 2 and 4 days (a2 and a3, respectively). field performance and some physiological traits of plants from ...

seed storage proteins are synthesized as sources of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur for the next generation of plants. reactive oxygen species serve as second messengers for signal transduction; however, molecular targets of oxidant signaling have not been defined. here, many researchers showes that ligand–receptor mediated signaling promotes reactive oxygen species– dependent protein carbonylation...

1. We investigated the relationships of seed size, dispersal mode and other species characteristics to interspecific variation in mean primary seed dispersal distances, mean annual seed production per unit basal area, and clumping of seed deposition among 41 tropical tree species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. 2. A hierarchical Bayesian model incorporating interannual variation in seed produ...

Many studies have focused on the ecology of seed dimorphism, the production of two seed types by a single plant. Morphology and seed size are usually correlated, but how morphology affects germination percentage and seedling growth is poorly understood. Here we explicitly separate these effects for nine populations of the dimorphic species Tragopogon pratensis subsp. pratensis. Larger seeds yie...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Seed survival in the soil contributes to population persistence and community diversity, creating a need for reliable measures of soil seed bank persistence. Several methods estimate soil seed bank persistence, most of which count seedlings emerging from soil samples. Seasonality, depth distribution and presence (or absence) in vegetation are then used to classify a species'...

This paper outlines a very longue durée history of three North China's most important cereal crops: broomcorn millet, foxtail and wheat. It illustrates their place within broader social-environmental formations, highlighting the various biological cultural factors that enabled spread these crops, as well ways in which crops patterns they are grown influenced economic social history. We demonstr...