Respiration and Yield

Abstract

A primary goal of crop physiology is to provide insights that can lead to effective plant selection and breeding strategies, and improved agronomic practices. A reason for studying crop-plant respiration is, therefore, to learn how manipulating it, either by management or breeding, might improve yield. An important qualification, however, is that changing one characteristic of a plant or crop may have effects on other characteristics. For example, increasing the sink strength of seeds during filling could result in increased lodging. Of course, the more we learn about all aspects of crop productivity, the better we will be able to evaluate such tradeoffs and focus on the critical aspects of crop production.