Preece Catherine, Livarda Alexandra, Wallace Michael, Martin Gemma, Charles Michael, Christin Pascal-Antoine, Jones Glynis, Rees Mark, Osborne Colin P
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.
Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
New Phytol. 2015 Aug;207(3):905-13. doi: 10.1111/nph.13353. Epub 2015 Mar 11.
During the origin of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, the broad spectrum of wild plant species exploited by hunter-gatherers narrowed dramatically. The mechanisms responsible for this specialization and the associated domestication of plants are intensely debated. We investigated why some species were domesticated rather than others, and which traits they shared. We tested whether the progenitors of cereal and pulse crops, grown individually, produced a higher yield and less chaff than other wild grasses and legumes, thereby maximizing the return per seed planted and minimizing processing time. We compared harvest traits of species originating from the Fertile Crescent, including those for which there is archaeological evidence of deliberate collection. Unexpectedly, wild crop progenitors in both families had neither higher grain yield nor, in grasses, less chaff, although they did have larger seeds. Moreover, small-seeded grasses actually returned a higher yield relative to the mass of seeds sown. However, cereal progenitors had threefold fewer seeds per plant, representing a major difference in how seeds are packaged on plants. These data suggest that there was no intrinsic yield advantage to adopting large-seeded progenitor species as crops. Explaining why Neolithic agriculture was founded on these species, therefore, remains an important unresolved challenge.
在新月沃地农业起源期间，狩猎采集者所利用的野生植物种类范围大幅缩小。导致这种专业化以及相关植物驯化的机制存在激烈争论。我们研究了为何有些物种被驯化而其他物种没有，以及它们共有的特征。我们测试了单独种植的谷类和豆类作物的祖先，是否比其他野草和豆类产量更高、谷壳更少，从而使每粒播种种子的回报最大化并使加工时间最短。我们比较了源自新月沃地的物种的收获特征，包括那些有考古证据表明被有意采集的物种。出乎意料的是，这两个科的野生作物祖先既没有更高的谷物产量，在禾本科植物中也没有更少的谷壳，尽管它们确实有更大的种子。此外，相对于播种种子的质量，小种子禾本科植物的实际产量更高。然而，谷类作物的祖先每株植物的种子数量少三倍，这代表了种子在植物上的包装方式存在重大差异。这些数据表明，采用大种子祖先物种作为作物并没有内在的产量优势。因此，解释新石器时代的农业为何基于这些物种仍然是一个重要的未解决挑战。
