A Comprehensive Overview of Plant Domestication in Asian Nations

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of plant domestication in Asian countries. It begins by defining domestication and its significance, highlighting how early humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to settled agricultural communities. The essay traces the gradual process of plant domestication, emphasizing the role of trial and error, and the selection of traits. It discusses the domestication of various crops like apples, rice, and millet and their impact on food security and civilization. The essay also examines the challenges faced by modern farmers in Asia, such as drought, soil salinity, and climate change, while exploring potential solutions like drought-resistant crops and interspecific hybridization. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significant transformation of landscapes due to plant domestication and its lasting impact on seasonal biology.

Running Head: DOMESTICATING OF PLANTS
Domestication of Plants in Asian Countries
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Institutional affiliation

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 2
ABSTRACT
Domestication of plants in the process of hereditary reorganization of pants into cultivated forms
according to the interest of humans. The plants' domestication enabled early humans to
manipulate the living standards and plant heredity and the process took generations to attain
because of the understanding of the environment they occupy. As the process of domestication
occurred in Asia, early humans started moving from hunting and gathering community to a
settled agricultural community. This transformation would lead to the first city-states after 4000
to 5000 years later and finally the rise of civilization. The process of domestication was gradual,
a process of intermittent error and trail, and normally leading to characteristics and diverging
traits. Over the duration, small and perennial trees including olive and apple were involved in the
domestication to the current domesticated crops and plants.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 3
Domestication of Plants in Asian Countries
Domestication can be defined as a sustained multi-generational relationship in which a single
group of organisms assumes a substantial level of effect over the care and reproduction of
another group to secure the supply of a more anticipated resource from that second group.
Domestication of plants in the process of hereditary reorganization of pants into cultivated forms
according to the interest of people1. The essential difference of the domesticated plants from their
wild ancestors is that they are developed through human labour to attain particular requirements
and they are adapted to the conditions of consideration and continuous care that are maintained
to them2. Domestication has played a significant part in the development of material culture and
mankind. It has led to the appearance of agriculture as a special form of production of plants.
At around 12,500BCE, the domestication of plants first arose. The plants' domestication enabled
early humans to manipulate the living standards and plant heredity. Domestication took
generations to attain because of the understanding of the environment they occupy. Between
500BCE and 7000BCE, the domestication of plants in East and Central Asia gave early humans
a source of food while playing a significant role in the development of civilization3. The initial
animals' domestication influenced the majority of genes which regulated their behaviour, but the
initial plant domestication influenced majority of the genes that regulated their physiology such
as the timing of ripening or germination and their morphology such as dispersal mechanism,
plant architecture, and seed size.
1 Tang, H., Sezen, U. & Paterson, A., 2010. Domestication and plant genomes. Current Opinion in Plant Biology,
Volume 13, pp. 160-166.
2 Shu-Jun, O., Hong-Ru, W. & Cheng-Cai, C., 2012. Major domestication traits in Asian rice. Hereditas (Beijing),
Volume 34, pp. 1379-1389.
3 Huang, X. & Han, B., 2015. Rice domestication occurred through a single origin and multiple introgressions.
Nature Plants, Volume 2.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 4
The earliest attempts at plant domestication by human occurred in the Middle East. There is
evidence for trait selection of plants and conscious cultivations through the pre-Neolithic group
in Syria. Rye grains wit domestication traits have been discovered from Epi-Palaeolithic but it
seems to be a localized phenomenon resulting from wild rye cultivation, and not definitive stages
towards domestication4. By 10000BCE Lagenaria siceraria commonly known as bottle gourd
plant, used as a container before the innovation of ceramic technology, seems to have been
domesticated. The bottled gourd domesticated from Asia reached America by 8000BC, most
likely because of the migration of people to America from Asia.
As the process of domestication occurred in Asia, humans started moving from hunting and
gathering community to a settled agricultural community. This transformation would lead to the
first city-states after 4000 to 5000 years later and finally the rise of civilization. Continuous
domestication was gradual, a process of intermittent error and trail, and normally leading to
characteristics and diverging traits5. Over the duration, small and perennial trees including olive
and apple were involved in the domestication. At around 1000BC, the domestication of apples
started in Central Asia. These plants were one of the earliest domesticated plant in Central Asia,
currently known as Kazakhstan6.
Some plants like pecan and macadamia nut were not involved in the domestication process until
lately. In other sections of the world, plants of different species were involved in the
domestication process7. Plants such as cassava, beans, and maize formed the main diet in
4 Shu-Jun, O., Hong-Ru, W. & Cheng-Cai, C., 2012. Major domestication traits in Asian rice. Hereditas (Beijing),
Volume 34, pp. 1379-1389.
5 Gepts, P., 2014. The contribution of genetic and genomic approaches to plant domestication studies. Current
Opinion in Plant Biology, Volume 18, pp. 51-59.
6 Yang, X., 2019. Weedy Rice Evolution: De-domestication or Semi-domestication?. Molecular Plant, Volume 12, pp.
613-614.
7 Tang, H., Sezen, U. & Paterson, A., 2010. Domestication and plant genomes. Current Opinion in Plant Biology,
Volume 13, pp. 160-166.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 5
America while soy, rice, and millet formed the major part of the diet in East Asia since they were
the most significant crops. The plants domesticated had different traits and characteristics from
their wild relatives in numerous ways, namely larger edible part, chemical composition, less
defensive adaptations, less efficient breeding system, lack of scattering or shattering of seeds,
simultaneous fruit and flower, loss of seed dormancy, conversion from perennial to annual, and
different ecological appearance. The domesticated plants had less defensive mechanisms like
sturdiness, protective cover, poison, prickles, spines, thorns, and hairs which made them more
likely to be consumed by pest and animals and also human8.
The domestication of plants not only provided early humans with a source of food but also an
advantage to the development of cities. Domestication enables early humans to plant their food
instead of obtaining it from places where they are occurring naturally when they were gatherers
and hunters. Domestication of plants also enabled humans to accumulate extra food and promote
food security during the dry period. The domestication of cereal crops was first done around
9000BCE in the Middle East in Fertile Crescent9. The initial crop domestication was normally
yearly with huge fruits and seeds. These included grains such as wheat and pulses like peas. The
Middle East was specifically appropriate to these species, such as elevation variety and dry-
summer climate which provided a conducive to the evolution of annual plants that are large-
seeded that resulted in great species variety.
There are numerous challenges facing modern farmers in Asia, including a period with limited
sunlight, drought, soil salinity, and climate change. Drought is one of the major challenge facing
domesticated plants currently. With the variations in climate, then regions that depend on a
8 Gross, B. & Olsen, K., 2010. Genetic perspectives on crop domestication. Trends in Plant Science, Volume 15, pp.
529-537.
9 Sang, T., 2009. Genes and Mutations Underlying Domestication Transitions in Grasses. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY,
Volume 149, pp. 63-70.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 6
significant quantity of perspiration will dry out making the crops that are drought resistant to be
priority10. The method that can be used is the identification of drought-resistant crop such as
Bambara groundnut and then transferring the advantage to susceptible crops such as rice. The
resistance to drought on the domesticated plants can also be improved through changing the root
system architecture of the plants.
The Asian semi-arid tropics, especially in the South Pacific, are known for being agricultural
difficult and economically destitute to farm effectively and cultivate. Challenges include
environmental irresponsibility, economic isolation, diseases and lack of rainfall. There have been
numerous researches on corps to improve the stable food in semi-arid tropics of Asia such as
pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut11. As part of the research, some
breeds of wild plants are being used for the purposes of transferring genes to the crops
domesticated through interspecific hybridization which entails current approaches of tissue
capture and embryo rescue12. There are also other Asian countries that are threatened by food
security due to the negative effects of the climatic change. These leaves these regions with two
options, namely increasing food importation or increasing agricultural production. This calls for
interspecific hybridization of domesticated crops so that they can grow in these regions.
The domestication of the plant has resulted in large scale transformation of the landscape,
woodlands and forests have been replaced with domesticated crops which is evident in numerous
records of Holocene sedimentary. This change continues and the patterns are also varying as
10 Lenser, T. & Theißen, G., 2013. Molecular mechanisms involved in convergent crop domestication. Trends in
Plant Science, Volume 18, pp. 704-714.
11 PICKERSGILL, B., 2009. Domestication of plants revisited - Darwin to the present day. Botanical Journal of the
Linnean Society, Volume 161, pp. 203-212.
12 Chaudhary, B., 2013. Plant Domestication and Resistance to Herbivory. International Journal of Plant Genomics,
pp. 1-14.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 7
diets shift and more grains are used for chicken feed resulting in increased pressure on water
resources13.
CONCLUSION
The most significant results of domestication of plant in Asian countries consist of a drastic
change in the seasonal biology. The wild ancestors of the plants involved in the domestication
were characterized through a larger edible part, chemical composition, less defensive
adaptations, less efficient breeding system, lack of scattering or shattering of seeds, simultaneous
fruit and flower, loss of seed dormancy, conversion from perennial to annual, and different
ecological appearance.
REFERENCES
Chaudhary, B., 2013. Plant Domestication and Resistance to Herbivory. International Journal of Plant
Genomics, pp. 1-14.
Gepts, P., 2014. The contribution of genetic and genomic approaches to plant domestication studies.
Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Volume 18, pp. 51-59.
Gross, B. & Olsen, K., 2010. Genetic perspectives on crop domestication. Trends in Plant Science, Volume
15, pp. 529-537.
13 Gepts, P., 2014. The contribution of genetic and genomic approaches to plant domestication studies. Current
Opinion in Plant Biology, Volume 18, pp. 51-59.

DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS 8
Huang, X. & Han, B., 2015. Rice domestication occurred through single origin and multiple
introgressions. Nature Plants, Volume 2.
Lenser, T. & Theißen, G., 2013. Molecular mechanisms involved in convergent crop domestication.
Trends in Plant Science, Volume 18, pp. 704-714.
PICKERSGILL, B., 2009. Domestication of plants revisited - Darwin to the present day. Botanical Journal
of the Linnean Society, Volume 161, pp. 203-212.
Sang, T., 2009. Genes and Mutations Underlying Domestication Transitions in Grasses. PLANT
PHYSIOLOGY, Volume 149, pp. 63-70.
Shu-Jun, O., Hong-Ru, W. & Cheng-Cai, C., 2012. Major domestication traits in Asian rice. Hereditas
(Beijing), Volume 34, pp. 1379-1389.
Tang, H., Sezen, U. & Paterson, A., 2010. Domestication and plant genomes. Current Opinion in Plant
Biology, Volume 13, pp. 160-166.
Yang, X., 2019. Weedy Rice Evolution: De-domestication or Semi-domestication?. Molecular Plant,
Volume 12, pp. 613-614.