Root System Architecture Differences of Maize Cultivars Affect Yield and Nitrogen Accumulation in Southwest China

Abstract

Root system architecture (RSA) plays a critical role in the acquisition of water and mineral nutrients. In order to understand the root characteristics that contribute to enhanced crop yield and N accumulation high-yielding and N efficient cultivars under N-stressed conditions. Here, grain yield, N accumulation and RSA traits of six dominant maize cultivars (CD30, ZH311, ZHg505, CD189, QY9 and RY1210) grown in the Southwestern part of China were investigated in field experiment under three different N regimes in 2019–2020; N300 (300 kg N ha−1), N150 (150 kg N ha−1) and N0 (no N supplied). Using Root Estimator for Shovelomics Traits (REST) for the quantitative analysis of maize root image obtained in the field, RSA traits including total root length (RL), root surface area (RA), root angle opening (RO), and root maximal width (RMW) were quantified in this study. The results showed that Yield, N accumulation and RSA were significantly affected by N rates, cultivars and their interactions. Grain yield, N accumulation and root weight showed a similar trend under N300 and N150 conditions compared to N0 conditions. With the input of N fertilizer, the root length, surface area, and angle increase, but root width does not increase. Under the N300 and N150 condition, RL, RA, RO and RMW increased by 17.96%, 17.74%, 18.27%, 9.22%, and20.39%, 18.58%, 19.92%, 16.79%, respectively, compared to N0 condition. CD30, ZH505 and RY1210 have similar RO and RMW, larger than other cultivars. However, ZH505 and RY1210 have 13.22% and 19.99% longer RL, and 11.41% and 5.17% larger RA than CD30. Additionally, the grain yield of ZH505 and RY1210 is 17.57% and 13.97% higher compared with CD30. The N accumulation of ZH505 and RY1210 also shows 4.55% and 9.60% higher than CD30. Correlation analysis shows that RL, RA, RO and RMW have a significant positive correlation with grain yield while RO and RMW have a significant positive correlation with N accumulation. Linear plus plateau model analysis revealed that when the RO reaches 99.53°, and the RMW reaches 15.18 cm, the N accumulation reaches its maximum value under 0–300 kg N ha−1 conditions. Therefore, selecting maize cultivars with efficient RSA suitable for different soil N inputs can achieve higher grain yield and N use efficiency.

Dynamic transcriptome analysis unravels key regulatory genes of maize root growth and development in response to potassium deficiency

“…We used Zea mays cv. Chengdan 30 (CD30), a high-yielding spring maize cultivar developed by the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2004 and being currently dominant in the hilly region of central Sichuan (Guo et al 2022 ).…”

Content Patterns of Maize Endogenous Hormones and Grain Yield Influenced by Field Phosphorus Application

“…Briefly, the steps of high-performance liquid chromatography are as follows: (1) prepare standard sample solution and establish quantitative working curve, (2) prepare sample solution and measure the recovery rate, (3) calculate IAA, GA3, ABA, and SA contents [28]. At harvest, the plant height was measured by a meter stick [29], all the roots in each plot were washed out with water, and then the root length was scanned using a STD4800 SCANNER (Regent Instruments Inc., Québec City, QC, Canada), and the root surface area was analyzed using the WinRHIZO program, 2007 [30]. The area of the fully expanded leaf was measured using a ruler, and then calculated as per the following equation [31]:…”