4^th Global Food Security, Food Safety & Sustainability Conference

Biography

Biography: Kalmi D. Ishmail

Abstract

We investigated a relationship between nutritional aspects and type of consumption in a dataset of living suidian species to provide a framework for making basic estimates of the range of growth styles evolved by T. radicans, a little-studied family of closely-related and leafy species native to central North America. Our results show that “primary” growth (i.e. main stalk) length (f_prim) and total branch length (sum of the lengths of the fibre, ulna and seed pods in each stalk of a species) have ratios that differ significantly among four groups defined by their characteristic styles of growth. These ratios can be determined for extant species and are also predictive for ancestral varieties. This finding was supported using multivariate ordination analyses, with four wing elements based on four stalks that distinguish the four generally observed varieties within legumes of several general types (beans, peas, etc.). Among the variables we investigated, variant length is the most closely related to pod size, yet paradoxically it is the least useful predictor for nutritional style. This strongly suggests to us that the shape of the stalks rather than their length along is the key factor in total yield, which can approach 165 bushels per acre. Seed pod thickness (shape) must vary with beat strength, with weaker forces requiring less phloem. Finally, we show that by incorporating data from American pods, multivariate ordination analyses can be used to understand the evolving suilline styles dating back to early Mesozoic fossils.)