The domino effect of selection for yield in perennial sunflower: from conservative to acquisitive

VILELA, A; VAN TASSEL, DAVID; RAVETTA, D.A.

Lund

Congreso; Is the Future of Agriculture perennial?; 2019

Lund University

Conference: ?Is the future of agriculture perennial?, May 6-10, 2019. Lund, Sweden.Organized by The Land Institute and LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)The domino effect of selection for yield in perennial sunflower: from conservative to acquisitiveAuthors: Alejandra Vilela1, Luciana González-Paleo1, David Van Tassel2 and Damián Ravetta11Museo Egidio Feruglio-CONICET, Trelew, Patagonia Argentina2The Land InstituteDomestication and crop improvement have been largely focussed on increasing yield of plants from wild germplasm. While choosing wild candidates for grain production and ecosystem services provision, selection for high-yield inadvertently provoked a cascade of changes at different scales and levels, from crop to anatomy, altering the very same desirable traits for which wild plants were originally preferred. We present a hierarchical model and describe the changes observed in Silphium integrifolium after five generations of breeding for yield. The potential consequences of those changes on plant survival, stress tolerance, pest resistance, resource-use efficiency, nutrients cycling and profitability are discussed.