Alexander Calderwood

PLOS ONE, Sep 2023 The improvement of crop yield is a major breeding target and there is a long history of research that has focussed on unravelling the mechanisms and processes that contribute to yield. Quantitative prediction of the interplay between morphological traits, and the effects of these trait-trait relationships on seed production remains, however, a challenge. Consequently, the extent to which crop varieties optimise their morphology for a given environment is largely unknown.

Highlights • Levels of the key floral repressor FLC fall during October rather than during winter • Warming field plots in October delays flowering in spring • Plants overwinter as an inflorescence meristem in a manner resembling perennials Summary Plants with winter annual life history germinate in summer or autumn and require a period of prolonged winter cold to initiate flowering, known as vernalization.