Maize Leaves Turn Away from Neighbors

Maddonni, Gustavo Ángel; Otegui, Marı́a Elena; Andrieu, Bruno; Chelle, Michaël; Casal, Jorge J.

doi:10.1104/pp.009738

Cited by 152 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…An additional reason for the field test is that the phytochrome transgenic strategy to reduce the negative effects of crop light signals has the potential drawback that plants lacking normal responses to R to FR could simultaneously fail to optimize the position of lightharvesting organs (Ballaré et al, 1995(Ballaré et al, , 1997. Plant responses to R to FR signals play a key role in minimizing the interference among leaves in maize (Zea mays) crops (Maddonni et al, 2002). Furthermore, phyB can alter the timing of tuber formation (Jackson et al, 1996), and this could modify the impact of PHYB overexpression on the yield of the field crops.…”

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Increased Phytochrome B Alleviates Density Effects on Tuber Yield of Field Potato Crops

et al. 2003

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The possibility that reduced photomorphogenic responses could increase field crop yield has been suggested often, but experimental support is still lacking. Here, we report that ectopic expression of the Arabidopsis PHYB (phytochrome B) gene, a photoreceptor involved in detecting red to far-red light ratio associated with plant density, can increase tuber yield in field-grown transgenic potato (Solanum tuberosum) crops. Surprisingly, this effect was larger at very high densities, despite the intense reduction in the red to far-red light ratios and the concomitant narrowed differences in active phytochrome B levels between wild type and transgenics at these densities. Increased PHYB expression not only altered the ability of plants to respond to light signals, but they also modified the light environment itself. This combination resulted in larger effects of enhanced PHYB expression on tuber number and crop photosynthesis at high planting densities. The PHYB transgenics showed higher maximum photosynthesis in leaves of all strata of the canopy, and this effect was largely due to increased leaf stomatal conductance. We propose that enhanced PHYB expression could be used in breeding programs to shift optimum planting densities to higher levels.The world population is predicted to reach 8 billion by 2025, and this, in combination with current trends in dietary composition, will result in a substantial increase of food demand. The ability to satisfy this demand will rely heavily on the genetic improvement of cultivated plants to increase yield potentials and/or yield stability (i.e. the constancy of performance; Khush, 2001). Although yield per unit area continues to increase for many crops, maximum yield is not showing such an obvious trend, and this has been interpreted as a result of yield potential approaching a ceiling, whereas yield stability continues to grow (Mann, 1999). Although some consider that this ceiling represents the highest physically attainable yield (Sinclair, 1993), others are more confident that incorporation of the current wealth of knowledge in plant biology will overcome the decreasing rate of increase in yield potential. However, genetic modifications that appear beneficial when analyzed at the cellular or plant level do not necessarily translate into higher yields in the field, either because of negative side effects or simply because they do not operate on the limitations under field conditions.As incident solar radiation penetrates the canopy of commercial crops, it suffers a gradual attenuation of the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and of the red (R) to far-red (FR) ratio (Holmes and Smith, 1977). Changes in the R to FR ratio perceived by phytochromes initiate a number of responses such as increased stem extension growth (Morgan and Smith, 1976), reduced branching (Deregibus et al., 1983), and accelerated leaf senescence (Rousseaux et al., 1999), which are collectively called the shade avoidance syndrome (Smith, 2000). In growing canopies, some of these changes anticipate com...

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Increased Phytochrome B Alleviates Density Effects on Tuber Yield of Field Potato Crops

et al. 2003

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“…Leaf-growth responses to horizontal gradients of R/FR can relax competition for radiation by avoidance of shading between matching leaves of neighbors in maize stands (36) and in Arabidopsis plants grown with kin neighbors (37), and this behavior increases the seed yield of the population (37). At high population densities, self-organized sunflower stands produced 19-47% more oil than their counterparts where plants were forced to remain vertical (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-mediated self-organization of sunflower stands increases oil yield in the field

Pereira

Sadras

Batista

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Here, we show a unique crop response to intraspecific interference, whereby neighboring sunflower plants in a row avoid each other by growing toward a more favorable light environment and collectively increase production per unit land area. In high-density stands, a given plant inclined toward one side of the interrow space, and the immediate neighbors inclined in the opposite direction. This process started early as an incipient inclination of pioneer plants, and the arrangement propagated gradually as a “wave” of alternate inclination that persisted until maturity. Measurements and experimental manipulation of light spectral composition indicate that these responses are mediated by changes in the red/far-red ratio of the light, which is perceived by phytochrome. Cellular automata simulations reproduced the patterns of stem inclination in field experiments, supporting the proposition of self-organization of stand structure. Under high crop population densities (10 and 14 plants per m2), as yet unachievable in commercial farms with current hybrids due to lodging and diseases, self-organized crops yielded between 19 and 47% more oil than crops forced to remain erect.

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“…Finally this may induce bias between the properties predicted from these representations and the properties of an actual plant canopy. For example, Gramineae are known to have shade avoidance behaviours Maddonni et al 2002;Pierik et al 2005), and the shape of leaves is very sensitive to water stress (Moulia 2000). In the future, these stochastic models may benefit from the integration of more mechanistic approaches.…”

Section: Geometrical Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional-Structural Modelling of Gramineae

Fournier¹,

Andrieu²,

Buck-Sorlin³

et al. 2007

Functional-Structural Plant Modelling in Crop Production

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Abstract. The Gramineae have been a pioneer group among non-woody plants to be modelled with the approach of functional-structural plant modelling (FSPM). During the past decade, models have focussed on morphological aspects of plant development. They now provide crop scientists with general guidelines for building new cereal models. We present some of them here, considering the different aspects of cereal architectural modelling: plant development, pattern formation and plant geometry. We also review some significant examples that illustrate the different types of uses of these models for agronomic research. We conclude that the next generation of cereal models should be based on a less empirical modelling of the processes that control morphogenesis.

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Maize Leaves Turn Away from Neighbors

Cited by 152 publications

References 52 publications

Increased Phytochrome B Alleviates Density Effects on Tuber Yield of Field Potato Crops

Increased Phytochrome B Alleviates Density Effects on Tuber Yield of Field Potato Crops

Light-mediated self-organization of sunflower stands increases oil yield in the field

Functional-Structural Modelling of Gramineae

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