When to flower?
a team of scientists in the uk has found how crop plants use the length of day as a parameter to ensure they flower at the right time of the year. Led by David Laurie, the researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich describe a gene (called Ppd-h1) that controls how barley reacts to the length of the day and thus controls when it flowers.
The study can help breeders develop new varieties for new environments and changing agricultural conditions caused by global climate change, the scientists say. They will now be able to find out how many versions of this gene there are in barley and which environments they match, says Laurie. The findings appear in Science (Vol 310, No 5750, November 11, 2005).
Some barley varieties respond quickly to the lengthening days in spring and flower early. This is an advantage in places where the summers are hot and dry, such as the Mediterranean, because the plants can complete their life cycle before being exposed to the summer stress. In places like England, where the summers are cool and wet, late flowering is an advantage because the longer growing period allows the crops to deliver higher yields.
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