Effect of seeding density on the weediness potential of transgenic plants: a case study on sunflowers

Background: Newly introduced transgenic plants can outcompete native species in natural ecosystems, threatening the biodiversity of a country. This study ascertained the weediness potential of plants according to the seed amount under the assumption that transgenic seeds were unintentionally spilled. Using sunflowers as the study system, 0, 50, 100, and 150 seeds were sown in 1 m × 1 m and 2 m × 2 m plots, and seed germination, survival, flowering, and competition between the surviving and wild plants were investigated. Results: There was no significant difference in the germination rate of sunflowers depending on the cultivar, but differences were observed depending on the sowing density and plot size. As the number of seeds sown increased, the flowering and seed maturation of sprouted plants occurred earlier; the plant height and flower length of the surviving plants decreased. In addition, as the number of seeds increased, not only did the early importance of sunflowers increase, but the period of dominance over weeds also improved. Conclusions: These results suggest that the weediness potential of sunflowers varies with the number of seeds at the time of release, which may affect germination and growth, and compete with weeds in transgenic plants.