Flower heterochrony and crop yield

Abstract

Crop improvement has focused on enhancing yield, nutrient content, harvestability,and stress resistance using a trait-centered reductionist approach. This hasdownplayed the fact that plants are developmentally integrated and respond coordinately and predictably to genetic and environmental variation, with potential consequences for food production. Crop yield, including both fruit/seed production andthe possibility of generating hybrid crop varieties, is highly dependent on flowermorphology and sex, which, in turn, can be profoundly affected by slight shifts inthe timing and rate of flower organ development (i.e., flower heterochrony). Weargue that understanding the genetic and environmental bases of flowerheterochrony and their effect on flower morphology and sex in cultivated plantsand in their wild relatives can facilitate crop improvement.