Whereas breeders have exploited diversity in maize for yield improvements, there has been limited progress in using beneficial alleles in undomesticated varieties. Characterizing standing variation in this complex genome has been challenging, with only a small fraction of it described to date. Using a population genetics scoring model, we identified 55 million SNPs in 103 lines across pre-domestication and domesticated Zea mays varieties, including a representative from the sister genus Tripsacum. We find that structural variations are pervasive in the Z. mays genome and are enriched at loci associated with important traits. By investigating the drivers of genome size variation, we find that the larger Tripsacum genome can be explained by transposable element abundance rather than an allopolyploid origin. In contrast, intraspecies genome size variation seems to be controlled by chromosomal knob content. There is tremendous overlap in key gene content in maize and Tripsacum, suggesting that adaptations from Tripsacum (for example, perennialism and frost and drought tolerance) can likely be integrated into maize.

Maize is one of the most important food crops in the world and, together with rice and wheat, provides at least 30% of the food calories to more than 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries. In parts of Africa and Mesoamerica, maize alone contributes over 20% of food calories. Maize is also a key ingredient in animal feed and is used extensively in industrial products, including the production of biofuels. Increasing demand and production shortfalls in global maize supplies have worsened market volatility and contributed to surging global maize prices. Climatic variability and change, and the consequent rise in abiotic and biotic stresses, further confound the problem. Unless concerted and vigorous measures are taken to address these challenges and accelerate yield growth, the outcome will be hunger and food insecurity for millions of poor consumers. We review the research challenges of ensuring global food security in maize, particularly in the context of climate change. The paper summarizes the importance of maize for food, nutrition and livelihood security and details the historical productivity of maize, consumption patterns and future trends. We show how crop breeding to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses will play a key role in meeting future maize demand. Attention needs to be directed at the generation of high yielding, stresstolerant and widely-adapted maize varieties through judicious combination of conventional and molecular breeding approaches. The use of improved germplasm per se will not, however, be enough to raise yields and enhance adaptation to climate change, and will need to be complemented by improved crop and agronomic practices. Faced with emasculated state extension provision and imperfect markets, new extension approaches and institutional innovations are required that enhance farmers' access to information, seeds, other inputs, finance and output markets. Over the long-term, large public and private sector investment and sustained political commitment and policy support for technology generation and delivery are needed to overcome hunger, raise the incomes of smallholder farmers and meet the challenges of growing demand for maize at the global level.

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Genomic selection incorporates all the available marker information into a model to predict genetic values of breeding progenies for selection. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic gains in grain yield from genomic selection (GS) in eight bi‐parental maize populations under managed drought stress environments. In each population, 148 to 300 F2:3 (C0) progenies were derived and crossed to a single‐cross tester from a complementary heterotic group. The resulting testcrosses of each population were evaluated under two to four managed drought stress and three to four well‐watered conditions in different locations and genotyped with 191 to 286 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. The top 10% families were selected from C0 using a phenotypic selection index and were intermated to form C1. Selections both at C1 and C2 were based on genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs). The best lines from C0 were also advanced using a pedigree selection scheme. For genetic gain studies, a total of 55 entries representing the eight populations were crossed to a single‐cross tester, and evaluated in four managed drought stress environments. Each population was represented by bulk seed containing equal amounts of seed of C0, C1, C2, C3, parents, F1s, and lines developed via pedigree selection. Five commercial checks were included for comparison. The average gain from genomic selection per cycle across eight populations was 0.086 Mg ha–1. The average grain yield of C3–derived hybrids was significantly higher than that of hybrids derived from C0. Hybrids derived from C3 produced 7.3% (0.176 Mg ha–1) higher grain yield than those developed through the conventional pedigree breeding method. The study demonstrated that genomic selection is more effective than pedigree‐based conventional phenotypic selection for increasing genetic gains in grain yield under drought stress in tropical maize.

Key messageGenome-wide association analysis in tropical and subtropical maize germplasm revealedthatMLND resistance is influenced by multiple genomic regions with small to medium effects.AbstractThe maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) caused by synergistic interaction of Maize chlorotic mottle virus and Sugarcane mosaic virus, and has emerged as a serious threat to maize production in eastern Africa since 2011. Our objective was to gain insights into the genetic architecture underlying the resistance to MLND by genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic selection. We used two association mapping (AM) panels comprising a total of 615 diverse tropical/subtropical maize inbred lines. All the lines were evaluated against MLND under artificial inoculation. Both the panels were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing. Phenotypic variation for MLND resistance was significant and heritability was moderately high in both the panels. Few promising lines with high resistance to MLND were identified to be used as potential donors. GWAS revealed 24 SNPs that were significantly associated (P < 3 × 10−5) with MLND resistance. These SNPs are located within or adjacent to 20 putative candidate genes that are associated with plant disease resistance. Ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction with five-fold cross-validation revealed higher prediction accuracy for IMAS-AM panel (0.56) over DTMA-AM (0.36) panel. The prediction accuracy for both within and across panels is promising; inclusion of MLND resistance associated SNPs into the prediction model further improved the accuracy. Overall, the study revealed that resistance to MLND is controlled by multiple loci with small to medium effects and the SNPs identified by GWAS can be used as potential candidates in MLND resistance breeding program.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00122-015-2559-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In sub-Saharan Africa, maize is a staple food and key determinant of food security for smallholder farming communities. Pest and disease outbreaks are key constraints to maize productivity. In September 2011, a serious disease outbreak, later diagnosed as maize lethal necrosis (MLN), was reported on maize in Kenya. The disease has since been confirmed in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and similar symptoms have been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. In 2012, yield losses of up to 90% resulted in an estimated grain loss of 126,000 metric tons valued at $52 million in Kenya alone. In eastern Africa, MLN was found to result from coinfection of maize with Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), although MCMV alone appears to cause significant crop losses. We summarize here the results of collaborative research undertaken to understand the biology and epidemiology of MLN in East Africa and to develop disease management strategies, including identification of MLN-tolerant maize germplasm. We discuss recent progress, identify major issues requiring further research, and discuss the possible next steps for effective management of MLN.

Genomic selection offers great potential for increasing the rate of genetic improvement in plant breeding programs. This research used simulation to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for genotyping and phenotyping to enable genomic selection in early generation individuals (e.g., F2) in breeding programs involving biparental or similar (e.g., backcross or top cross) populations. By using phenotypes that were previously collected in other biparental populations, selection decisions could be made without waiting for phenotypes that pertain directly to the selection candidate to be collected, a process that would take at least three growing seasons. If these phenotypes were collected in biparental populations that were closely related to the selection candidates, only a small number of markers (e.g., 200–500) and a small number of phenotypes (e.g., 1000) were needed to achieve effective accuracy of estimated breeding values. If these phenotypes were collected in biparental populations that were not closely related to the selection candidates, as many as 10,000 markers and 5000 to 20,000 phenotypes were needed. Increasing marker density beyond 10,000 markers did not show benefit and in some scenarios reduced the accuracy of prediction. This study provides a guide, enabling resource allocation to be optimized between genotyping and phenotyping investment dependent on the population under development.

Development of vitamin A-rich cereals can help in alleviating the widespread problem of vitamin A deficiency. We report here significant enhancement of kernel β-carotene in elite maize genotypes through accelerated marker-assisted backcross breeding. A favourable allele (543 bp) of the β-carotene hydroxylase (crtRB1) gene was introgressed in the seven elite inbred parents, which were low (1.4 µg/g) in kernel β-carotene, by using a crtRB1-specific DNA marker for foreground selection. About 90% of the recurrent parent genome was recovered in the selected progenies within two backcross generations. Concentration of β-carotene among the crtRB1-introgressed inbreds varied from 8.6 to 17.5 µg/g - a maximum increase up to 12.6-fold over recurrent parent. The reconstituted hybrids developed from improved parental inbreds also showed enhanced kernel β-carotene as high as 21.7 µg/g, compared to 2.6 µg/g in the original hybrid. The reconstituted hybrids evaluated at two locations possessed similar grain yield to that of original hybrids. These β-carotene enriched high yielding hybrids can be effectively utilized in the maize biofortification programs across the globe.