Effects of ten years organic and conventional farming on early seedling traits of evolving winter wheat composite cross populations

Abstract

Early vigour traits of wheat composite cross populations (CCPs) based on high yielding (Y) or high quality (Q) or Y*Q varietal intercross evolving under organic or conventional conditions in parallel populations were studied hydroponically. To eliminate storage and year effects, frozen F 6 , F 10 , F 11 and F 15 seeds were multiplied in one field, resulting in the respective F x.1 generations. This eliminated generation and growing system effects on seed size for the F 6.1 F 10.1 and F 15.1. Due to a severe winter kill affecting the F 11 , the generation effect persisted, leading to larger seeds and markedly different seedling traits in the F 11.1 compared to the F 10.1 and F 15.1 . Seedling traits were similar among parallel populations. Shoot length and weight increased in both systems until the F 11.1 across farming systems and remained constant thereafter. Over time , seminal root length and root weight of organic CCPs increased and total- and specific- root length decreased significantly compared to the conventional CCPs. Rooting patterns under organic conditions suggests better ability to reach deeper soil nutrients. In both systems, Q and YQ CCPs were more vigorous than Y CCPs, confirming genetic differences among populations. Overall, heterogeneous populations appear very plastic and selection pressure was stronger in organic systems.

Adaptive Reprogramming During Early Seed Germination Requires Temporarily Enhanced Fermentation-A Critical Role for Alternative Oxidase Regulation That Concerns Also Microbiota Effectiveness

“…Recently, the use of the so-called "organic seeds" vs. conventionally produced seeds is raised as an ethical issue (European Parliament and of the Council, 2018). However, the better quality of organic seeds in terms of their contribution to agriculture sustainability, nutritional quality, and yield performance is under intensive debate (e.g., Bhaskar et al, 2019;Voss-Fels et al, 2019) and requires scientific validation (Simon et al, 2017;Abdelrazek et al, 2020a,b). Appropriate methods and tools are in absolute need to discriminate organic vs. conventional seeds by traits that should allow predicting the superior quality of organic seeds.…”

Adaptive reprogramming during early seed germination requires temporarily enhanced fermentation – a critical role for alternative oxidase (AOX) regulation that concerns also microbiota effectiveness

“…However, the better quality of organic seeds in terms of their contribution to agriculture sustainability, nutritional quality and yield performance is under intensive debate (e.g. Voss-Fels et al, 2019, Bhaskar et al, 2019) and requires scientific clarification (Simon et al, 2017, Abdelrazek et al, 2020a,b). Appropriate methods and tools are the need of the time in order to discriminate organic versus conventional seeds by traits that should at the same time allow predicting the assumed superior quality of organic seeds.…”

Diverse approaches to crop diversification in agricultural research. A review

“…It can be one measure to develop more sustainable production systems, develop value-chains for minor crops (Meynard et al 2018) and contribute to socio-economic benefits (Feliciano 2019). Crop diversification practices can include higher crop diversity (Renard and Tilman 2019), more diverse crop rotations (Reckling et al 2016), mixed cropping (Bedoussac et al 2015;Malézieux et al 2009), cultivation of grain legumes in otherwise cereal dominated systems (Watson et al 2017), perennial leys or grassland (Haughey et al 2018;Phelan et al 2015;Weißhuhn et al 2017) and regionally adapted varieties or variety mixtures (Yang et al 2019;Vijaya et al 2019). Crop diversification and/or additional diversification measures like variation of seeding time or changing cropping patterns have the potential to lead to higher and more stable yields, increase profitability and lead to greater resilience of agro-ecosystems in the long term (Rosa-Schleich et al 2019;Meynard et al 2018;Liu et al 2019;Raseduzzaman and Jensen 2017;Renard and Tilman 2019;Urruty et al 2016).…”