Dormancy is a bet-hedging strategy that allows organisms to persist through conditions that are suboptimal for growth and reproduction by entering a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity. Dormancy allows a population to maintain a reservoir of genetic and phenotypic diversity (i.e., a seed bank) that can contribute to the long-term survival of a population. This strategy can be potenti...

*Extension Crop Specialist, Professor of Forage Genetics and Research Associate in Forages, respectively, Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 Alfalfa—the most productive and most widely adapted forage species—is indeed “Queen of the Forages.” A grower’s initial decision to produce alfalfa and subsequent choice of varieties have long-term consequences...

Tropospheric ozone is one of the major drivers of global change. This stress factor alters plant growth and development. Ozone could act as a selection pressure on species communities composition, but also on population genetic background, thus affecting life history traits. Our objective was to evaluate the consequences of prolonged ozone exposure of a weed community on phenotypic traits of Sp...

To evaluate the effectiveness of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) in breaking rice seed dormancy and the use of a-amylase enzyme activity as an indicator of the dormancy level, seed from the intensively dormant irrigated cultivar Urucuia were used. The seeds were submitted to a predrying process in a forced air circulation chamber under 40oC during 7 days and submersed in 30 mL of GA 3 solution under 0...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Comparative studies of closely related taxa can increase understanding of adaptations and changes in seed dormancy and germination preferences in an evolutionary perspective. For such studies, a method to describe and compare the performance of taxa in a general way is needed. The germination ecology of four Papaver taxa was studied with the aim of describing and comparing t...

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is one of the serious problems for wheat production, especially in rainy regions. Although seed dormancy is the most critical trait for PHS resistance, the control of heading time should also be considered to prevent seed maturation during unfavorable conditions. In addition, awning is known to enhance water absorption by the spike, causing PHS. In this study, we con...

Environmental signals drive seed dormancy cycling in the soil to synchronize germination with the optimal time of year, a process essential for species' fitness and survival. Previous correlation of transcription profiles in exhumed seeds with annual environmental signals revealed the coordination of dormancy-regulating mechanisms with the soil environment. Here, we developed a rapid and robust...

Climate change is accelerating plant developmental transitions coordinated with the seasons in temperate environments. To understand the importance of these timing advances for a stable life history strategy, we constructed a full life cycle model of Arabidopsis thaliana. Modelling and field data reveal that a cryptic function of flowering time control is to limit seed set of winter annuals to ...

Orthodox seeds are living organisms that survive anhydrobiosis and may display dormancy, an inability to germinate at harvest. Seed germination potential can be acquired during a prolonged period of dry storage called after-ripening. The aim of this work was to determine if gene transcription is an underlying regulatory mechanism for dormancy alleviation during after-ripening. To identify chang...

Preharvest sprouting of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is associated with inadequate seed dormancy. Although abscisic acid (ABA) has often been suggested to play a central role in developing seed, its involvement in dormancy of mature seed lacks firm experimental evidence and endogenous ABA levels are not well correlated with germinability. We examined genotypic and temporal variation in wheat se...