"In many crops, such as oilseed rape, premature seed dispersal is one of the major causes of crop loss. In the context of climate change, this could become increasingly severe. This study exposes the potential vulnerabilities of crop production in the warming world and paves the way for addressing this problem." co-senior author Vinod Kumar, a plant developmental biologist at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England.
Scientific researchers in the UK have discovered how a changing climate alters the way key culinary plant species function in higher than normal temperatures. Their findings, released Monday in the journal Molecular Plant, is not good news.
Gardeners know that higher temperatures speed up seed dispersal in plants of the cabbage and mustard families (we call it bolting or flowering), both of which are important sources of food worldwide. Researchers found that the early release of seeds from bolting hampers plant reproduction and limits crop success.
Science Daily reports:
Plants have an extraordinary ability to adjust their life cycle to suit a range of environmental conditions. For example, despite day-to-day changes in weather and temperature, the release of seeds stays in tune with prevailing seasonal conditions.
"Seed dispersal is also a key trait that must be controlled when domesticating plants for food production," says co-senior author Lars Østergaard, a plant geneticist at the John Innes Centre. "With the prospect of climate change affecting crop performance, we wanted to understand how environmental signals such as temperature affect seed dispersal."
This photograph shows oilseed rape pods that are opening and spreading the seeds.The researchers found that a rise in temperature, from 71.6 F to 80.0 F, “accelerated pod shattering and seed dispersal in Arabidopsis plants and important Brassicaceae crops”. The warmer temperatures “accelerated seed dispersal by enhancing the expression of the INDEHISCENT gene, which is known to regulate the development of seed pod tissue and promote fruit opening”.
"We speculate that such mechanisms have evolved to facilitate proper seasonal timing of dispersal to ensure that seeds are released under conditions that are both timely and climatically optimal for germination," Li says. "There could perhaps be a selective advantage in early maturation and dispersal in the wild."
Beyond the evolutionary implications, the findings could have broad relevance for maintaining yields of important crops. Oilseed rape is one of the largest sources of vegetable oil in the world and is also used for biofuel and animal feed. More generally, the Brassicaceae family includes many economically valuable agricultural crops, including cabbage, mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale, turnip, radish, and rutabaga.