AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE IN BRASSICA-RAPA (CRUCIFERAE)

Growth chamber experiments with rapid-cycling Brassica rapa were designed to estimate the genetic correlations for plant performance under no-competition (isolated plants), intraspecific competition, and interspecific competition with Raphanus sativa. Biomass and flower number were highest in the no-competition treatment, and lowest under interspecific competition. The performance of a family grown without competition was a poor predictor of performance with competition, while the performance of families grown under intra- and interspecific competition was positively correlated. -from Authors