Plants reconfigure their metabolic pathways to cope with water deficit. The aim of this study was to determine the status of the physiological parameters and the content of phenolic acids in the upper most ear leaf of maize inbred lines contrasting in drought tolerance in terms of improved plant productivity e.g., increased grain yield. The experiment was conducted under irrigation and rain-fed conditions. In drought-tolerant lines, the effect of water deficit was reflected through a chlorophyll and nitrogen balance index increase followed by a flavonols index decrease. The opposite trend was noticed in drought susceptible inbreds, with the exception of the anthocyanins index. Moreover, in comparison to irrigation treatment, opposite trends in the correlations between grain yield and physiological parameters found under water deficit conditions indicated the activation of different metabolic pathways in defense against water deficit stress. Concerning phenolic acid content, water deficit caused the reduction of protocatechuic, caffeic, and sinapic acid in all inbreds evaluated. However, the highly pronounced increase of ferulic and especially cinnamic acid content under water deficit conditions indicated possible crucial role of these secondary metabolites in preventing the harmful effects of water deficit stress, which, in turn, might be useful in maize breeding selection for drought tolerance.
Taste and nutritional value make sweet corn a valued plant and an important component of the human diet worldwide. Kernel nutritive composition of sweet corn has been reported in various papers, but a description of carotenoid and tocopherols profile, especially after cooking is scarce. Therefore, the present study was carried out to compare the carotenoid and tocopherol content in sweet corn before and after cooking. Contents of b-carotene, lutein+zeaxanthin and tocopherols (d-T, b+g-T, a-T) in the kernels of twelve sweet corn hybrids were determined by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and were expressed as the mean value of three independent measurements. Both genotype and cooking affected the content of the carotenoids and tocopherols in the kernel. The highest content of total carotenoids before and after cooking was found in hybrid ZP486/1su (27.77/45.28 µg/g) whereas the lowest content was in hybrid ZP 355su (10.27 µg/g) before cooking i.e. in hybrid ZP 347su (24.55 µg/g) after cooking. The cooking resulted in a significant increase in the content of total carotenoids and tocopherols, lutein+zeaxanthin, and b-carotene in all hybrids, except the ZP504su in which the b-carotene content decreased. An increase in a-tocopherol after cooking was observed in hybrids ZP485/1su and ZP484/1su, while a decrease was in hybrids ZP481/1su, ZP486/1su and ZP477/2su. The results showed that increasing micronutrient content is genotype-dependent. This study confirmed that cooking increases the nutritional value of sweet corn and gives it additional value in terms of functional food.
Nitrogen is an important macro-nutrient that influences various physiological processes in plants . Nevertheless, nitrogen could be loosed from the soil by leaching and evaporation . Thus, low nitrogen inputs are required together with a strategy to improve its utilization by crops . Maize genotypes exhibit various susceptibility to low soil nitrogen . From that reason, variability in the reaction of 32 maize lines to growing in conditions with optimal (fertilization with urea), and with low nitrogen (without fertilization) was examined during 2017 and 2018 . All other growing measures and fertilization with other elements was applied in the same manner on the whole experimental plot . 2017 was a drier season, with higher average temperatures, particularly during anthesis and grain filling period .High variability among genotypes and seasons was present . The values of maize grain yield and 1000 grain weight were slightly higher in treatment with nitrogen application . Some lines under the low nitrogen conditions reached even higher grain yields (efficacy of yielding was 139 .7% and 156 .7%, for 2017 and 2018) than in conditions with optimal nitrogen in the soil, such as L1, L2, L5, L10, L11, L13, L15, L23 and L31, declaring them as genotypes with high nitrogen using efficiency . However, these lines achieved moderate yields (in both treatments and years) in regard to other lines . Among tested lines, L1 and L23 had higher grain yields in both fertilization treatments indicating them as prominent for further research, i .e . breeding of maize hybrids with better nitrogen usage from the soil, even in the conditions with low nitrogen .
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