25 - Control of flowering

Abstract

Publisher Summary The timing in which different plant species attempt to sexually reproduce is influenced by the need for sufficient resources to support reproduction as well as the vulnerability of the exposed plant reproductive organs to unfavorable environmental conditions. Many species have developed a sensitive mechanism both to avoid flowering when they lack the sufficient resources, and also to avoid flowering during certain seasons. This mechanism requires an ability to sense and react to internal changes as well as seasonal and daily changes in the environment, including temperature, light quality/intensity, and daylength. Three major decisions regarding timing of flowering are: the length of the juvenile phase, a period lasting from germination until plants allow themselves to enter the reproductive cycle, when to flower during the year, and when to time the next cycle of reproduction, that is, the “reproductive cycle.” Reaching human goals by overcoming or circumventing plant mechanisms is a slow process that likely began with the start of agriculture. Knowing more about the processes can help in devising more precise agricultural techniques. One's knowledge of genes that regulate these processes can serve in marker-assisted breeding and in the use of transgenic manipulations.