Genotype-dependent reductions of competition are associated with yield maintenance in a modern common wheat Triticum aestivum L. cultivar
- 1Kyoto University
Abstract
Modern crop breeding has increased yield under monoculture stands, but the mechanisms underlying this improvement remain incompletely understood. We tested whether genotype-dependent reduction of competition, whereby plants adjust competitive responses according to neighbor genetic identity, contributes to yield maintenance in modern common wheat cultivars. We conducted a root-exudate application experiment and two competition experiments using three common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landraces and one modern cultivar, Norin 61. Norin 61 exhibited little change in shoot-to-root allocation in response to root exudates from the same cultivar compared with distilled water, whereas it increased shoot-to-root allocation exposed to root exudate from different cultivars. Moreover, shoot-to-root allocation increased with decreasing genetic relatedness between neighboring cultivars in common wheat plants. In competition experiments, greater shoot-to-root allocation was associated with stronger suppression of competitors. Norin 61 maintained grain biomass under the same-cultivar competition compared to solitary conditions but exhibited substantial yield reductions when competing with different cultivars, whereas these patterns were weaker or absent in landraces. These results suggest that genotype-dependent reduction of competition may contribute to yield maintenance in modern wheat cultivars and provide a new perspective on how crop breeding has shaped plant-plant interactions in monoculture stands.
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BibTeX
@misc{kosugi2026genotypedependent,
title = {{Genotype-dependent reductions of competition are associated with yield maintenance in a modern common wheat Triticum aestivum L. cultivar}},
author = {N. Kosugi and T. Kaneko and K. Yoshida and A. Yamawo},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.07.749990},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.07.749990v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Genotype-dependent reductions of competition are associated with yield maintenance in a modern common wheat Triticum aestivum L. cultivar
AU - N. Kosugi
AU - T. Kaneko
AU - K. Yoshida
AU - A. Yamawo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.07.749990
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.07.749990v1
AB - Modern crop breeding has increased yield under monoculture stands, but the mechanisms underlying this improvement remain incompletely understood. We tested whether genotype-dependent reduction of competition, whereby plants adjust competitive responses according to neighbor genetic identity, contributes to yield maintenance in modern common wheat cultivars. We conducted a root-exudate application experiment and two competition experiments using three common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landraces and one modern cultivar, Norin 61. Norin 61 exhibited little change in shoot-to-root allocation in response to root exudates from the same cultivar compared with distilled water, whereas it increased shoot-to-root allocation exposed to root exudate from different cultivars. Moreover, shoot-to-root allocation increased with decreasing genetic relatedness between neighboring cultivars in common wheat plants. In competition experiments, greater shoot-to-root allocation was associated with stronger suppression of competitors. Norin 61 maintained grain biomass under the same-cultivar competition compared to solitary conditions but exhibited substantial yield reductions when competing with different cultivars, whereas these patterns were weaker or absent in landraces. These results suggest that genotype-dependent reduction of competition may contribute to yield maintenance in modern wheat cultivars and provide a new perspective on how crop breeding has shaped plant-plant interactions in monoculture stands.
ER -