A team of researchers has gained insight into the genetic processes underpinning how plants detect twilight and the role twilight plays in plant growth.
"We got these surprising findings that twilight has a very relevant effect on key agriculture traits such as flowering time and growth," says R. Glen Uhrig, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
For the study, the researchers simulated twilight conditions in a controlled growth chamber and monitored the responses of the Arabidopsis plant, a model plant and relative of canola.