It is well documented that ancient sickle harvesting led to tough rachises, but the other seed dispersal properties in crop progenitors are rarely discussed. The first steps toward domestication are evolutionary responses for the recruitment of humans as dispersers. Seed dispersal–based mutualism evolved from heavy human herbivory or seed predation. Plants that evolved traits to support human-mediated seed dispersal express greater fitness in increasingly anthropogenic ecosystems. The loss of dormancy, reduction in seed coat thickness, increased seed size, pericarp density, and sugar concentration all led to more-focused seed dispersal through seed saving and sowing. Some of the earliest plants to evolve domestication traits had weak seed dispersal processes in the wild, often due to the extinction of animal dispersers or short-distance mechanical dispersal.

有充分的文献记载，古老的镰刀收割会导致棘手的棘齿病，但很少讨论作物祖先中的其他种子传播特性。驯化的第一步是招募人类作为分散剂的进化反应。基于种子传播的共生关系从繁重的人类食草或种子捕食演变而来。进化特征以支持人类介导的种子传播的植物在日益人为的生态系统中表现出更大的适应性。休眠的丧失，种皮厚度的减少，种子尺寸的增加，果皮密度和糖浓度的增加，都导致了通过节约种子和播种使种子更加集中地散播。一些最早发展驯化性状的植物在野外的种子传播过程较弱，