Abstract
The evolutionary shifts in the seed packing features of the plants during domestication were studied by comparing a set of domesticated legumes with the wild species. The domestication considerably reduced the packing cost of the seeds in terms of pod coat weight per unit weight of seeds. This reduction is a result of increased seed weight per pod and the average seed weight, probably at the cost of seed number per pod, while the podcoat weight per pod was maintained during domestication. Eventhough, the average seed weight increased by 8-fold from wild to domesticates, the increase in pod coat weight per seed was only 2-3-fold. It is possible to separate wild and domesticates into distinct clusters on the basis of their individual seed weight and packing costs. We discuss the evolutionary implications of these results.
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Reddy, P.G., Vinayak, K. Effect of domestication on seed packing cost in legumes. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 100, 337–342 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03053457
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03053457