Managed environments in the form of well watered and water stressed trials were performed to study the genetic basis of grain yield and stay green in sorghum with the objective of validating previously detected QTL. As variations in phenology and plant height may influence QTL detection for the target traits, QTL for flowering time and plant height were introduced as cofactors in QTL analyses for yield and stay green. All but one of the flowering time QTL were detected near yield and stay green QTL. Similar co-localization was observed for two plant height QTL. QTL analysis for yield, using flowering time/plant height cofactors, led to yield QTL on chromosomes 2, 3, 6, 8 and 10. For stay green, QTL on chromosomes 3, 4, 8 and 10 were not related to differences in flowering time/plant height. The physical positions for markers in QTL regions projected on the sorghum genome suggest that the previously detected plant height QTL, Sb-HT9-1, and Dw2, in addition to the maturity gene, Ma5, had a major confounding impact on the expression of yield and stay green QTL. Co-localization between an apparently novel stay green QTL and a yield QTL on chromosome 3 suggests there is potential for indirect selection based on stay green to improve drought tolerance in sorghum. Our QTL study was carried out with a moderately sized population and spanned a limited geographic range, but still the results strongly emphasize the necessity of corrections for phenology in QTL mapping for drought tolerance traits in sorghum.

-The genotypes selection for drought tolerance is very important for world food production, principally in arid regions or sites with irregular rain distribution. The objective of this work was to identify cowpea genotypes with drought tolerance and water stress sensitivity characteristics. Two experiments were carried out with 20 treatments and four replications, one under water deficit during reproductive phase and another one under full irrigation. The water deficit was obtained applying half the water depth required by cowpea. The leaf area index, chlorophyll content, grain components and grain yield were evaluated. The water deficit reduced 20% the leaf area index, 16% the chlorophyll content, 175% the pod number per plant and 60% the grain yield. The genotypes Santo Inácio and Tracuateua-192 present sensitivity to water deficit in soil and BRS-Paraguaçu, Pingo-de-ouro-1-2 and Pingo-de-ouro-2 show behavior for drought tolerance. Key words -Vigna unguiculata. Leaf area index. Chlorophyll content.Resumo -A seleção de genótipos com tolerância à seca é essencial para a produção de alimentos no mundo, especialmente em regiões de clima árido ou com má distribuição de chuvas. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar genótipos com características de tolerância e sensibilidade ao estresse hídrico. Foram conduzidos dois experimentos em campo, um sob déficit hídrico durante a fase reprodutiva e outro sob irrigação plena, ambos em um delineamento de blocos ao acaso com 20 tratamentos (genótipos) e quatro repetições. O déficit hídrico foi obtido aplicando-se, aproximadamente, metade da lâmina requerida pela cultura do feijão-caupi. Foram avaliados o índice de área foliar, teor de clorofila, componentes de produção e o rendimento de grãos. O déficit hídrico reduziu em 20% o índice médio de área foliar, 16% o índice médio de clorofila, 175% o número médio de vagens por planta e em 60% a produção de grãos. Os genótipos Santo Inácio e Tracuateua-192 são sensíveis ao déficit de água no solo, enquanto o BRS-Paraguaçu, o Pingo-de-ouro-1-2 e o Pingo-de-ouro-1 são tolerantes à seca.Palavras-chave -Vigna unguiculata. Índice de área foliar. Teor de clorofila.

RESUMODeficiência hídrica é considerada a maior restrição na produção e estabilidade da produtividade de culturas em muitas regiões do mundo. No Estado de Goiás, região na qual predomina a produção em sequeiro, para a cultura do milho (Zea mays L.) implantada na safra normal e na safrinha, é comum sofrer períodos de estresse por deficiência hídrica intermitente ou terminal, que reduzem o rendimento de grãos. No processo de desenvolvimento de novos híbridos e variedades cultivadas, genótipos são selecionados em função de sua adaptabilidade em um determinado ambiente alvo. Assim, programas de melhoramento vegetal, com o objetivo de desenvolver híbridos e variedades cultivadas mais adaptados a um determinado ambiente, requerem informações sob a probabilidade de ocorrência dos diferentes tipos de deficiência hídrica, como também, suas características, intensidade e tempo, em função da fase fenológica da cultura. Um modelo de simulação de culturas foi utilizado para determinar os padrões de deficiência hídrica no estado de Goiás, considerando 12 locais e 6 diferentes datas de semeadura para a cultura do milho semeada na safra normal e na safrinha. Para a cultura do milho semeado na safra normal, a perda na produtividade decorrente do estresse por deficiência hídrica foi menor que 50%, sendo que os tipos de deficiência hídrica que provocam um maior impacto na produtividade iniciam-se no começo do período reprodutivo. Para o milho semeado na safrinha, a perda na produtividade é superior a 50%, sendo mais comum o estresse terminal, que tem sua maior intensidade no enchimento de grãos. Termos para indexação: Modelos de crescimento, Zea mays, cerrado, veranico, estresse hídrico. ABSTRACTWater stress is a major constraint to crop production and yield stability in many regions of the world. The cultivation of corn (Zea mays L.) in the Brazilian State of Goiás, is frequent affected by periods of water stress resulting in yield reduction. During the process of developing new hybrids and cultivated varieties, new genotypes are selected based on their adaptability for a certain environment. In this context, plant breeding programs demand for information regarding as a function of the crop phenological phases. A crop simulation model was used to determine patterns of water stress for 12 locations of the State of Goiás and 6 different sowing for both, first and second corn harvest periods. For the first harvest period, yield loss due to water stress was lower than 50%, with higher effects on yield in the beginning of the reproductive period. For corn as a second crop, yield loss is higher than 50% with frequent occurrence of terminal stress, which presented higher intensity during the stage of grain filling.

BackgroundPhotosynthesis can be roughly separated into biochemical and photochemical processes. Both are affected by drought and can be assessed by non-invasive standard methods. Gas exchange, which mainly assesses the first process, has well-defined protocols. It is considered a standard method for evaluation of plant responses to drought. Under such stress, assessment of photochemical apparatus by chlorophyll fluorescence needs improvement to become faster and reproducible, especially in growing plants under field conditions. For this, we developed a protocol based on chlorophyll fluorescence imaging, using a rapid light curve approach.ResultsAlmost all parameters obtained by rapid light curves have shown statistical differences between control and drought stressed maize plants. However, most of them were affected by induction processes, relaxation rate, and/or differences in chlorophyll content; while they all were influenced by actinic light intensity on each light step of light curve. Only the normalized parameters related to photochemical and non-photochemical quenching were strongly correlated with data obtained by gas exchange, but only from the light step in which the linear electron flow reached saturation.ConclusionsThe procedure developed in this study for discrimination of plant responses to water deficit stress proved to be as fast, efficient and reliable as the standard technique of gas exchange in order to discriminate the responses of maize genotypes to drought. However, unlike that, there is no need to perform daily and time consuming calibration routines. Moreover, plant acclimation to the dark is not required. The protocol can be applied to plants growing in both controlled conditions and full sunlight in the field. In addition, it generates parameters in a fast and accurate measurement process, which enables evaluating several plants in a short period of time.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13007-017-0209-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

-The maize genebank (GBmaize) preserves nearly 4,000 accessions for conservation and use. The use is however restricted because the accessions do not perform as well as the elite genotypes. This problem can be reduced by prebreeding, i.e., by extending the information on germplasm and introgressing useful alleles. Since irregular rainfall distribution and drought induce maize yield losses, drought tolerance is a main breeding target. In this study, the GBmaize accessions were evaluated for drought tolerance. Environmental factors, genotypes and the respective interactions influence the phenotypic expression. There was however no interaction genotype -irrigation level, so no accessions with different performance under the two water regimes could be identified. The performance of the following accessions was promising for a number

Maize bushy stunt phytoplasma (MBSP) and corn stunt spiroplasma (CSS) diseases are widespread in Brazil. The leafhopper Dalbulus maidis is the insect vector for these pathogenic mollicutes. The effects of these diseases on the development of maize plants and the possible interaction of soil water availability on these effects were evaluated in two experiments carried out on potted plants. Experiment 1 was carried out in a 2 × 4 factorial, where factor 1 corresponded to healthy and mollicute-infected plants and factor 2 to the maintenance of 40, 60, 80, and 100% of the total soil water availability. Leafhoppers collected from a field with high incidence of these diseases were used to inoculate plants with mollicutes. There were three treatments in experiment 2: healthy plants, plants infected with phytoplasma, and plants infected with spiroplasma. MBSP was predominant in experiment 1. The infected plants grew less and lowered nutrient uptake, in distinct proportions, indicating a differential effect of mollicutes on nutrient uptake independent of available soil water. Soil water availability did not significantly affect plant growth and nutrient uptake or mollicute infection. The results indicated that plants infected by mollicutes contained less protein than healthy plants. Experiment 2 showed a reduction in growth of plants infected with mollicutes and less nutrient uptake by spiroplasma-infected plants. The results showed a detrimental effect of the spiroplasma on Mg uptake. Both experiments showed more water retention by infected plants than by healthy ones. These experiments clearly demonstrated that reduced plant growth and nutrient uptake are major effects on plants infected with MBSP and CSS.

Resumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da variabilidade do pH e da matéria orgânica de um Latossolo Vermelho distrófico, textura argilosa, sob diferentes manejos na retenção do herbicida imazaquin. A retenção deste herbicida foi medida pelo coeficiente de partição solo-água (K d ) em amostras de solos coletados na camada superficial (0-15 cm) em área de 38 ha, sob irrigação com pivô central e plantio direto e convencional. A retenção do imazaquin foi maior nas áreas com menores valores de pH e altos teores de matéria orgânica, ou seja, nas áreas onde o plantio direto foi utilizado por longo tempo. O pH afetou a retenção do imazaquin por controlar tanto a natureza iônica dos componentes do solo, matéria orgânica e minerais de argila, quanto a sua especiação. O teor de argila não apresentou variação na área estudada, ou seja, não afetou a retenção do imazaquin. O modelo de predição da sorção do imazaquin no solo pela análise de regressão multivariada com duas variáveis independentes (teor de matéria orgânica e pH) apresentou boa correlação (R 2 = 0,91).Termos para indexação: imidazolinona, agricultura de precisão, matéria orgânica, pH, plantio convencional. Imazaquin herbicide sorption by an Oxisol with till and no-till managementAbstract -The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of spatial variation of pH and organic matter of a Dark Red soil, under different managements, on imazaquin herbicide sorption. Soil-water sorption partitioning coefficient (K d ) was used in surface soil samples collected at 0-15 cm layer in a 38 ha area, under central pivot irrigation and with till and no-till management. Herbicide sorption was most strongly related to soil organic matter content and pH, revealing greatest sorption in lower pH values with greater soil organic matter content. These samples were collected at no-till management area. The pH effects on imazaquin retention occur either by controlling the organic matter ionization form as also its speciation. The clay content in the whole area had no variation, however, it didn't affect the K d values. Using multivariate regression and two independent variables (soil organic matter content and pH), the prediction of herbicide sorption by soil was good (R 2 = 0.91).

RESUMO Com vistas ao aumento da produção, optou-se