Physiological and Biochemical Evaluation of Maize Hybrid Germplasm Lines for Drought Tolerance under Receding Soil Moisture Conditions

Abstract

Maize, (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal food crop consumed by the world"s population after wheat and rice. It is a versatile crop grown under different agroclimatic conditions.Owing to its genetic yield potential maize is referred as "queen of cereals". It is grown throughout the year in all the seasons in India but predominantly grown as a kharif crop and accounts approximately 9 percent of the total food grain production of the country. Maize plays an important role in Indian economy, besides being a potential food source, it is also used as a fodder crop, cattle feed, poultry feed and industrial purposes such as glucose and starch production.Water is the elixir of life, and is the most important input in agriculture. When the soil water is insufficient and results in lack of crop growth and production is referred to as drought. Drought is the major stress that compromises the yield around the world

Simulated drought stress unravels differential response and different mechanisms of drought tolerance in newly developed tropical field corn inbreds

“…[ 19 ] reported the effects of stress on proline accumulation in corn variety and interaction was found significant. The study on the drought tolerance in 12 corn hybrids observed that increased proline content and wax content in the drought tolerance corn hybrids under moisture stress and suggested to use these parameters as most reliable parameters for the phenotypic drought tolerant screening [ 20 ]. Therefore, the drought tolerant cultivars in corn can be developed by the introgression of these mechanisms in the elite inbreds and combining them in hybrids cultivars through genetical approaches.…”