10.5061/DRYAD.6ND96
Simpson, Kimberley J.
University of Sheffield
Wade, Ruth N.
University of York
Rees, Mark
University of Sheffield
Osborne, Colin P.
University of Sheffield
Hartley, Sue E.
University of York
Data from: Still armed after domestication? Impact of domestication and
agronomic selection on silicon defences in cereals
Dryad
dataset
2018
Landraces
wild ancestors
Hordeum
Setaria
silica
crop protection
Growth-defence trade-offs
modern cultivars
Sorghum
cereals
Triticum
Oryza
Grasses
Pennisetum
Zea
2018-06-14T00:00:00Z
2018-06-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12935
17899 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Plant phenotypes reflect trade-offs between competing
resource-intensive physiological processes. A shift in resource
allocation, away from anti-herbivore defences and towards growth and
reproduction, is predicted through plant domestication, such that crops
are faster growing and higher yielding than their wild ancestors. These
changes are hypothesized to have come at the cost of defence investment,
leaving crops ‘disarmed by domestication’. Silicon is the principal
anti-herbivore defence in grasses, including many of our most important
staple cereal crops, but the impact of domestication on silicon-based
defences is unknown. 2. We measured the effects of both domestication and
modern agronomic selection on growth rate and a suite of anti-herbivore
defences, specifically leaf toughness, silicon and phenolic
concentrations. Our comparison of wild, landrace and modern cultivated
cereals spanned multiple cereal species, including wheat, barley and
maize, sampling eight independent domestication events and five examples
of modern agronomic selection. 3. Leaf silicon concentration showed a
small, but significant, 10% reduction through domestication, but there was
no effect of modern agronomic selection, and phenolic concentration was
not affected by either factor. Silicon concentration correlated positively
with leaf tensile strength, but negatively with foliar phenolic
concentrations, suggesting a trade-off between chemical and physical
defences. Size-standardised growth rate was independent of domestication
status, and did not trade-off with silicon or phenolic defences. However,
modeling showed that relative growth rate slowed more with increasing size
in plants with higher silicon levels, so that they reached a smaller final
size, implying a cost of silicon-based defence. We found the opposite
pattern for phenolic-based defence, with increasing phenolic
concentrations associated with a greater plant size at maturity, and
faster maximum relative growth rates. 4. Silicon-based defences have been
reduced in cereals through domestication, consistent with our predicted
costs of these defences to growth. However, modern agronomic selection has
not influenced silicon defences in cereal crops and the small decrease in
silicon concentration associated with domestication is unlikely to have a
major effect on the ability of cereals to withstand a range of abiotic and
biotic stresses. These findings have broad implications for crop
protection and our understanding of plant trade-offs.
Individual level defence dataIndividual level values of foliar silicon
concentration (% dry mass), tensile strength (N mm-1) and phenolic
concentration (% DM) for 21 cereal species. Domestication status
("Status" column) is indicated as W (wild ancestor), L
(landrace) or C (modern cultivar)Defence data.csvGrowth rate dataPlant
mass data from destructive harvests for 21 cereal species over 30 days.
Domestication status ("Status" column) is indicated by W (wild
ancestor), L (landrace) or C (modern cultivar). All units are given in
column names.