Flowering plants, like placental mammals, have an extensive maternal contribution toward progeny development. Plants are distinguished from animals by a genetically active haploid phase of growth and development between meiosis and fertilization, called the gametophyte. Flowering plants are further distinguished by the process of double fertilization that produces sister progeny, the endosperm ...

The reproductive capacities of dioecious plant species may be limited by severe pollen limitation and narrow seed shadows for the two reasons. First, they are unable to self-pollinate, and seed production occurs only with pollinator movement from males to females. Second, only 50% of the individuals in populations contribute to seed production. Despite these handicaps, dioecious plants maintain...

PREMISE OF STUDY Although there is increasing recognition of the effects of plant intraspecific diversity on consumers, the mechanisms by which such effects cascade-up to higher trophic levels remain elusive. METHODS We evaluated the effects of plant (lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus) intraspecific diversity on a suite of insect herbivores (leaf-chewers, aphids, and seed-eating beetles) and their...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Considerable variation in seed size commonly exists within plants, and is believed to be favoured under natural selection. This study aims to examine the extent to which seed size distribution depends on the presence of competing neighbour plants. METHODS Phaseolus vulgaris plants rooting with or without a conspecific neighbour were grown in soil with high or low nutrient ...

Fecal seeding by livestock may be an effective, low-cost means of rangeland restoration. We compared recruitment of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) from seed fed to cattle and deposited in dung to that of broadcast-seeded plots receiving a comparable number of unfed seed. Although germinability of seed passed through livestock (52 to 62%) was reduced relative to that of broadcast seed (85 to ...

Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) are copper-binding enzymes of the plant secondary metabolism that oxidize polyphenols to quinones. Although PPOs are nearly ubiquitous in seed plants, knowledge on their evolution and function in other plant groups is missing. This study reports on the PPO gene family in the moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G. asan example for an early divergent plant. The P. pa...

Plants are able to cope with herbivores by inducing defensive traits or growth responses that allow them to reduce or avoid the impact of herbivores. Since above- and belowground herbivores differ substantially in life-history traits, for example feeding types, and their spatial distribution, it is likely that they induce different responses in plants. Moreover, strong interactive effects on de...

A tissue culture technique for micropropagation of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) was established. High percentage of seed germination (100%) was recorded on Murashige and Shoog medium enriched with 0.4 mg l gibberellic acid and 10 mg l ascorbic acid after one week of culture. The maximum number of shoots per explant (2.7) gave MS medium with 2 mg l 6-benzylaminopurine after five weeks of culture. ...

The aim of the study was to determine chromosome number and nuclear DNA content an endemic plant, V. scamandri, using 14-week-old plants germinated from seed genetic stability based on flow cytometry analyses in callus tissue induced MS medium containing 1 mg/L Kin + 2,4-D 9-week-old propagated plants, developed 2 0.1 2,4-D. In mitotic counts showed scamandri had 2n = 16. Flow cytometric analys...

detopping in some plants reduces vegetative growth and increases transporting of photosynthate materials to specific sinks such as seeds. to study the effects of detopping removal and plant density on yield and yield components of faba bean (vicia faba l.), an experiment was carried out as a factorial arrangement based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at farm resear...