Ancient cycads found to be pre-adapted to grow in groves

The ancient cycad lineage has been around since before the age of the dinosaurs. More recently, cycads also co-existed with large herbivorous mammals, such as the ice age megafauna that only went extinct a few tens of thousands ...

Savvy seed sorter separates good from bad

Fast, portable, and comparatively inexpensive, an improved seed-sorting machine developed by aU.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist and an industry colleague is helping plant breeders and others separate the seeds ...

A route for steeper, cheaper, and deeper roots

Plants with thinner roots can grow deeper, a trait which could be exploited in lands affected by drought and nutrient deprivation. New research, to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on July 5, shows ...

Airborne gut action primes wild chili pepper seeds

Scientists have long known that seeds gobbled by birds and dispersed across the landscape tend to fare better than those that fall near parent plants where seed-hungry predators and pathogens are more concentrated.

US probes genetically modified wheat discovery

The US Department of Agriculture is investigating the discovery of genetically engineered wheat in an Oregon field, as outcry mounted Friday among consumer groups and Japan suspended some US imports.

New hypothesis proposed on why some seeds are hard

Hard seeds are prevented from germinating by a water-impermeable seed coat, and for many years this has been considered to be a dormancy mechanism. Scientists from Kew, the University of Bergen and the University of Sheffield ...

Plants 'talk' to plants to help them grow

Having a neighborly chat improves seed germination, finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology. Even when other known means of communication, such as contact, chemical and light-mediated signals, are ...

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