Drought and high temperature are two major environmental factors that severely limit plant productivity in the United States and worldwide, often causing extensive economic loss to agriculture. As global climate change progresses, agricultural production worldwide faces serious threats from frequent extreme weather conditions. Integrated approaches that improve the efficiency of agricultural water use and development of plant varieties that can alleviate the negative impacts of environmental stresses to maintain yield stability are essential to sustain and increase agriculture production. Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major crop in the United States and worldwide. Its production and yield stability are greatly affected by drought and high temperature stresses. Improving drought and heat tolerance in maize has become one of the top priorities for maize breeding programs in both private and public sectors. Identification of maize germplasm with superior drought and/or heat tolerance is essential and prerequisite for such propose. In this report, we evaluated a selection of maize inbred lines for drought and heat stress tolerance under field conditions in 2009 and 2010 and identified several inbred lines that showed high tolerance to drought. Tolerant inbred lines (Tx205, C2A554-4, and B76) were able to maintain relatively high leaf relative water content when subjected to drought stress, while sensitive lines (B73 and C273A) showed a rapid reduction in leaf relative water content at very early stage of drought. The tolerant lines also showed significantly greater ability to maintain vegetative growth and alleviate damage to reproductive tissues under drought conditions compared to the sensitive lines. Maize inbred lines and hybrids were also evaluated for tolerance to high temperature under well-watered conditions through field observations following the occurrence of major heat events. Maize inbred lines of distinct heat tolerance phenotype were identified. Furthermore, genetic and phenotypic analysis showed that maize hybrids made from inbred lines with superior heat tolerance inherited an enhanced tolerance to elevated temperatures. The tolerant germplasm accessions, like those identified in this study, are essential materials for breeding drought-and/ or heat-tolerant maize hybrids. Study for the potential use of such materials to produce maize hybrids that are able to alleviate the negative impacts of drought and heat stress on the growth and development of maize plants is underway.Key words: climate change-crop production-drought-germplasm-high temperature-maize Water and temperature are two critical environmental factors that continually influence the growth and development of plants. Drought and temperature extremes can cause extensive economic loss to agriculture (Boyer 1982;Peng et al. 2004; NCDC 2011), an effect that is likely to increase as global climate change progresses (Stern 2006;Keane et al. 2009). The 2011 drought and heat waves (heat stress) have caused more than US$5 billion in direct lo...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.