Screening and Physiological Responses of Maize Inbred Lines to Drought Stress in South China

Zhiqin Zhang, Xiaodong Xie, Muhammad Asad Naseer, Haiyu Zhou, Weidong Cheng, Hexia Xie, Lanqiu Qin, Xiang Yang, Yufeng Jiang () and Xunbo Zhou
Additional contact information
Zhiqin Zhang: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Products Safety, Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Xiaodong Xie: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Muhammad Asad Naseer: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Products Safety, Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Haiyu Zhou: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Weidong Cheng: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Hexia Xie: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Lanqiu Qin: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Xiang Yang: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Yufeng Jiang: Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
Xunbo Zhou: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Agro-Products Safety, Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: The frequent occurrence of localized and seasonal droughts has caused severe economic losses in maize production in South China. To promote sustainable maize production, selecting and breeding drought-tolerant varieties is vital for addressing water scarcity. Drought stress affects all aspects of crop morphological performance. In this study, the morphological performance of 285 maize inbred lines under drought stress was investigated using D-value analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, cluster analysis and stepwise regression analysis. All indicators were significantly different in the regular treatment compared to the drought treatment. Specifically, survival rate, root fresh weight, root dry weight, plant dry weight, root/crown ratio, and plant fresh weight were used as indicators for drought-tolerance evaluation. Furthermore, the drought-tolerant inbred line CML323 and the drought-sensitive inbred line CB2-49-1 were screened by comprehensively evaluating D values. The drought-tolerant inbred line CML323 exhibits higher leaf relative water content, chlorophyll content, proline content, and ascorbate peroxidase and peroxidase activity while having lower malondialdehyde content, consequently demonstrating excellent drought tolerance. This study provides valuable insights into drought-tolerance indicators and reference materials for breeding maize varieties.

Keywords: Zea mays L.; drought stress; morphological performance; multivariate analysis; physiological indexes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7366/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7366/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7366-:d:1464934

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().