Adaptation assessment of drought tolerance in maize populations from the Sahara in both shores of the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Drought is the main stress for agriculture, and maize (Zea mays L.) germplasm from the Sahara has been identified as potential source of drought tolerance; however, information about adaptation of semitropical maize germplasm from the Sahara to temperate areas has not been reported. Our objective was assessing the adaptation of maize germplasm from Saharan oases as sources of drought tolerance for improving yield and biomass production under drought conditions in temperate environments. A collection of maize populations from Saharan oases was evaluated under drought and control conditions in Spain and Algeria. Algerian populations were significantly different under drought for most traits, and the significant genotype × environment interactions indicated that drought tolerance is genotype-dependent, but tolerance differences among genotypes change across environments. Based on yield, the Algerian maize populations PI527474, PI527478, PI527472, PI527467, PI527470, and PI527473 would be appropriate sources of drought tolerance for temperate environments. Concerning biomass production, the most interesting populations were PI527467, PI542685, PI527478, and PI527472. These Saharan populations could provide favorable alleles for drought tolerance for temperate breeding programs, and could also be used for studying mechanisms and genetic regulation of drought tolerance.

Assessment of Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Algerian Saharan Maize Populations for Tolerance under Drought and No-Nitrogen Stresses

“…In addition, Saharan maize may be a great donor of alleles of stress tolerance because of its adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress. In this way, there is a high diversity in Algerian maize that may provide new alleles for drought conditions reported by a few authors in their previous phenotypic [63][64][65][66] and genetic [67][68][69] studies using the collection of some maize populations from a subtropical area in the Algerian Sahara. Furthermore, their high genetic divergence was found in the heterotic patterns study of Cherchali et al [70], who suggested the incorporation of this material in breeding programs.…”