Wind pollination is predominantly a derived condition in angiosperms and is thought to evolve in response to ecological conditions that render animal pollination less advantageous. However, the specific ecological and evolutionary mechanisms responsible for transitions from animal to wind pollination are poorly understood in comparison with other major reproductive transitions in angiosperms, i...

Effective panicle number, grain number, and grain weight are the three components of rice yield, of which grain number shows the highest variation and makes the largest contribution to yield output.Rice panicle number per plant is a grain yield component that directly influences rice yield. The identification of the genes controlling panicle number will play a vital role in high-yield rice bree...

There has been an explosion of information about flower development recently, largely because of genetic and molecular studies in Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhihum majus. A number of homeotic genes have been identified that regulate flower development, and models have been proposed for the specification of meristem and floral organ identities. Molecular cloning of many of these genes has all...

Background Bolting is regarded as the initiation of reproduction stage in the growth and development of an Arabidopsis plant, when a set of floral integrator genes activate the expression of floral meristem identity genes LFY and AP1 to initiate flowering transition[1,2]. However, how the expression of key genes, such as AP1, responds of diverse signals during flower development remains largely...

This paper analyses, on an individual plant basis, the various components determining seed production in the evergreen shrub Lavandula latifolia (Labiatae), in order to estimate their relative contributions to individual differences in fecundity. The relationships between fecundity and age, size, and growth rate are also examined. Experimental pollination and watering were done in an attempt to...

to evaluate the effect of shoot girdling, fruit thinning, urea, sucrose and zinc on inflorescence bud retention in pistachio, an experiment comprised of 12 treatments including girdling, fruit thinning, application of urea (0.5%), and sucrose (3 and 5%) and their combination of the first two with urea plus zinc sulfate (0.05 and 0.1% of pure zinc) as well as a combination of the two with urea, ...

Tomato is a major crop plant and several mutants have been selected for breeding but also for isolating important genes that regulate flowering and sympodial growth. Besides, current research in developmental biology aims at revealing mechanisms that account for diversity in inflorescence architectures. We therefore found timely to review the current knowledge of the genetic control of flowerin...

atures near optimal for vegetative growth. This lack of heat tolerance restricts broccoli production to maritime High temperature causes unevenly-sized flower buds climates lacking extreme temperatures. The alteration in on broccoli inflorescences. This deformity limits prothe inflorescence structure has been described primarily duction of broccoli to areas where summer temperin terms of the ma...

Seed yield of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is important in determining the effective distribution of new cultivars to farmers. Many genetic and environmental factors affect seed yield. This study was conducted to explain seed yield variation induced by either environmental conditions or cultivars. We analyzed seed yield, aboveground phytomass, harvest index, and seed yield components for a set ...

A new species, Thismiahongkongensis S.S.Mar & R.M.K.Saunders, is described from Hong Kong. It is most closely related to Thismiabrunonis Griff. from Myanmar, but differs in the number of flowers per inflorescence, the colour of the perianth tube, the length of the filaments, and the shape of the stigma lobes. We also provide inferences on the pollination ecology and seed dispersal of the new sp...