Unveiling Drought-Tolerant Corn Hybrids for Early-Season Drought Resilience Using Morpho-Physiological Traits

Charles Hunt Walne, Naflath Thenveettil, Purushothaman Ramamoorthy, Raju Bheemanahalli, Krishna N. Reddy and Kambham Raja Reddy ()
Additional contact information
Charles Hunt Walne: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, 117 Dorman Hall, Box 9555, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Naflath Thenveettil: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, 117 Dorman Hall, Box 9555, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Purushothaman Ramamoorthy: Geosystems Research Institute, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
Raju Bheemanahalli: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, 117 Dorman Hall, Box 9555, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Krishna N. Reddy: USDA-ARS, Crop Production Systems Research Unit, 141 Experiment Station Road, P.O. Box 350, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA
Kambham Raja Reddy: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, 117 Dorman Hall, Box 9555, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: The increasing severity of drought has become a significant threat to global crop production. Early season drought in corn produces poor plant stand and grain yield. Thus, identifying corn hybrids for drought tolerance during the early season is important. Nineteen corn hybrids commonly grown in the Midsouthern US were assessed for drought tolerance using mini-hoop structures. Plants grown under non-stress conditions were exposed to three moisture levels at 100% (0.17 m 3 m −3 soil; control), 66% (mild drought; DS1), and 33% (moderate drought; DS2) of the control from one to five leaf stages (V1 to V5). The physiological and morphological traits of corn hybrids were measured to assess variability in drought tolerance. When averaged across the hybrids, shoot parameters declined by 51% and 59% under DS1 and DS2 conditions, respectively, compared to the control. A decline in root traits was noticed under drought stress (38% under DS1 and 48% under DS2) compared to the control, revealing the shoot system sensitivity under drought conditions. In the principal component analysis, the first two principal components accounted for 66% of the phenotypic variation among the corn hybrids under drought stress. Total, shoot, leaf dry weights, root surface area, and root volume captured most of the phenotypic variation among the corn hybrids under drought. The results of the principal component analysis and drought stress response indices complimented the identification of ‘A6659’ and ‘D57VP51’ as drought-tolerant hybrids during the early seedling stage. These hybrids can be used as source material in developing drought-tolerant cultivars. Also, the tolerant hybrids will perform best under rainfed environments prone to early-season drought.

Keywords: corn hybrids; drought stress; physiological parameters; drought-response index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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