Are the carbon costs of seed production related to the quantitative and qualitative performance? An appraisal for legumes and other crops

In the past great efforts have been made to gain a thorough understanding of the processes involved in carbon fixation but the fate of the acquired carbon has been somewhat neglected, although this aspect is crucial for improving yield performance without diminishing the quality of the harvested organs. To contribute to the crucial debate on that topic the aim of the present study was to propose some unbiased components concerning in particular grain legumes: ‘Is there any antagonism between high yield and increased nutritional quality, with a focus on protein content?’ An original approach has been used to study the impact of the modification of seed composition on the crop production, which combines theoretical calculations of energetic cost and field yield data. When applied to a wide range of species with varying seed composition, a plurispecific negative relationship between the theoretical carbon costs of seed production and the observed yields was demonstrated. The high-throughput of genetic markers could result in large-scale screening of seed quality parameters and such studies, while evaluating the impact of seed composition on crop yield, could also be used to provide data to forecast the economic impact of a new line with an original composition compared with its economically enhanced value.     

Analysis of Branching in Spring-sown White Lupins (Lupinus albusL.): The Significance of the Number of Axillary Buds

Plant density and sowing date were shown to affect branchingin spring-sown white lupin (Lupinus albusL.), but the responsevaried among environments. The patterns of primary and secondarybranching in the cv. Lublanc were studied as a function of boththe number of axillary buds and the plant growth rate. Fieldexperiments that used a wide range of sowing dates and plantdensities to alter plant architecture were conducted over 5years, and these were supplemented with data from additionalglasshouse and growth cabinet experiments. The number of axillary buds on the main stem or primary branches,which determined the potential number of branches, increasedlinearly with the number of nodes. In situations where all axillarybuds did not produce branches, it was found that the numberof primary and secondary branches produced was related to theplant growth rate at the beginning of branch elongation. Knowledgeof the number of axillary buds improved the analysis of theinteraction between cultural practices and environmental conditionson plant architecture. The variability of branching potentialamong genotypes was discussed. Lupinus albus; branches; axillary buds; growth; sowing date; plant density