Isolated polynucleotides, polypeptides and methods of using same for increasing abiotic stress tolerance, biomass and yield of plants

A method of producing a crop, the method comprising growing a crop plant transformed with a nucleic acid construct comprising a polynucleotide which comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence at least 80% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth by SEQ ID NOs:

• 873, and a promoter for directing transcription of said nucleic acid sequence in said plant cell, wherein said promoter is heterologous to said polynucleotide, wherein the crop plant is derived from plants which comprise said nucleic acid construct and which have been selected for a reduced time to flowering, a reduced time to inflorescence emergence, an increased yield, an increased growth rate, an increased biomass, an increased vigor, an increased oil content, an increased seed yield, an increased fiber yield, an increased fiber quality, an increased fiber length, an increased photosynthetic capacity, an increased nitrogen use efficiency, and/or an increased abiotic stress tolerance as compared to a non-transformed plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, and the crop plant has the reduced time to flowering, the reduced time to inflorescence emergence, the increased yield, the increased growth rate, the increased biomass, the increased vigor, the increased oil content, the increased seed yield, the increased fiber yield, the increased fiber quality, the increased fiber length, the increased photosynthetic capacity, the increased nitrogen use efficiency, and/or the increased abiotic stress tolerance, thereby producing the crop.