Maize breeding for smaller tassels threatens yield under a warming climate

Yingjun Zhang, Xin Dong, Hongyu Wang, Yihsuan Lin, Lian Jin, Xuanlong Lv, Qian Yao, Baole Li, Jia Gao, Pu Wang, Baobao Wang () and Shoubing Huang ()
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Yingjun Zhang: China Agricultural University
Xin Dong: Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Hongyu Wang: China Agricultural University
Yihsuan Lin: China Agricultural University
Lian Jin: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Xuanlong Lv: China Agricultural University
Qian Yao: China Agricultural University
Baole Li: China Agricultural University
Jia Gao: China Agricultural University
Pu Wang: China Agricultural University
Baobao Wang: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Shoubing Huang: China Agricultural University

Nature Climate Change, 2024, vol. 14, issue 12, 1306-1313

Abstract: Abstract Breeding programmes have increased the yields of major crops, including maize (Zea mays L.), but the suitability of optimized traits to future climates remains unclear. Here, by comparing the responses of 323 elite maize inbred lines from different breeding eras under natural field conditions, we show that while newer lines exhibit higher grain yield than the early released lines under standard growth, the bred trait of reduced tassel size increases the susceptibility of newly released lines to high temperature during flowering. We identified a potential threshold for spikelets per tassel (~700), over which maize can produce a stably high seed set ratio under warm conditions, and show that small-tassel (

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02161-5

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