VARIATIONS AMONG MAIZE (Zea Mays L.) HYBRIDS IN RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS: HYBRIDS SELECTION CRITERIA

Abstract

High ambient temperature is one of the most alarming climatic factors in challenging the productivity and sustainability of crops worldwide. An effective way to cope this problem is the development of climate smart, heat resilient maize hybrids through evaluating the cultivated germplasm. The main objective of current study was to evaluate local and multinational maize hybrids for their performance under optimal and heat stress conditions and to devise a selection criterion for the identification of heat tolerant maize hybrids. Nine maize hybrids, including local and multinational, were evaluated under optimal and heat stress conditions across three consecutive spring seasons (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20) at Maize and Millets Research Institute, Yusafwala, Sahiwal. Results revealed the presence of highly significant differences among maize hybrids under both conditions and for all three seasons. Kernel yield was found to be highly correlated with net photosynthetic rate (0.735**), shelling percentage (0.910**) and relative cell injury percentage (-0.775**) under stress conditions. Cluster and biplot analysis unveiled that two local maize hybrids YH-5507 and YH-5427 were highly heat tolerant while multinational hybrids i.e. NK-8711, P-1543 and DK-6724 were highly productive under control/optimal conditions only. These hybrids can be invaluable sources of genes/alleles for the development of climate smart maize genotypes.

Keywords

• Biplot analysis
• Climate smart
• Heat tolerance
• Multivariate analysis
• Photosynthesis

References

1. Ali, F., N. Kanwal, M. Ahsan, Q. Ali, I. Bibi and N.K. Niazi. 2015. Multivariate analysis of grain yield and its attributing traits in different maize hybrids grown under heat and drought stress. Scientifica 563869: 1-6
2. Brown L, 2009. Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to save civilization. W.W. Norton & Company, New York. Cheema, U.K., N. Akhtar, M. Arshad and M. I. Yousaf. 2020.
3. Characterization of maize inbred lines for grain yield and related traits under heat stress conditions. Int. J. Biol. Biotech. 17: 367-375.
4. Cicchino, M., J.I.R. Edreira and M.E. Otegui. 2010. Heat stress during late vegetative growth of maize effects on phenology and assessment of optimum temperature. Crop Sci. 50: 1431-1437.
5. Coskun, Y., A. Coskun, U. Demirel and M. Ozden. 2011. Physiological response of maize (Zea mays L.) to high temperature stress. Aust. J. Crop. Sci. 5: 966-975.
6. Dass, S.I., G.K.C. Singh, C.M. Parihar, A. Singode and M.D.K. Singh. 2010. Abiotic stresses in maize, some issues and solutions. Directorate of Maize Research Pusa Campus, New Delhi.
7. Ghani, A., M. I. Yousaf, M. Arshad, K. Hussain, S. Hussain, M.T. Mukhtar, A. Hussain and S. Rehman. 2017. YH-1898: A new high yielding, high temperature tolerant local yellow maize (Zea mays L.) hybrid. Int. J. Biol. Biotech. 14: 441-449.
8. Govt. of Pakistan. 2018-19. Economic survey of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad. Available at http://www.fnance.gov.pk/survey_1819.html

9. Hefny, M.M., A. A. Ali, T.Y. Byoumi, M. Al-Ashry and S. A. Okasha. 2017. Classification of genetic diversity for drought tolerance in maize genotypes through principal component analysis. J. Agric. Sci. 62: 213-227
10. Iqbal, M A., J. Eitzinger, H. Formayer, A. Hassan and L.K. Heng. 2011. A simulation study for assessing yield optimization and potential for water reduction for summer-sown maize under different climate change scenarios. J. Agric. Sci. 149: 129-143.
11. Kandel, M., S.K. Ghimire, B.R. Ojha, and J. Shrestha. 2017. Analysis of genetic diversity among the maize inbred lines (Zea mays L.) under heat stress condition. Journal of Maize Research and Development 3: 86-97.
12. Khodarahmpour, Z. 2012. Morphological classification of maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes in heat stress condition. J. Agr. Sci. 4: 31-40.
13. Marinho, J.D.L., D.S.D. Costa, D.U.D. Carvalho, M.A.D. Cruz and C. Zucareli. 2019. Evaluation of vigor and tolerance of sweet corn seeds under hypoxia. J. Seed Sci. 41: 180-186.
14. Meseka, S., A. Menkir, B. Bossey and W. Mengesha. 2018. Performance assessment of drought tolerant maize hybrids under combined drought and heat stress. Agronomy 8: 1-17
15. Nelimor, C., B. Badu-Apraku, A.Y. Tetteh and A.S. N’guetta. 2019. Assessment of Genetic Diversity for Drought, Heat and Combined Drought and Heat Stress Tolerance in Early Maturing Maize Landraces. Plants 8: 518.
16. Noor, J.J., M.T. Vinayan, S. Umar, P. Devi, M. Iqbal, K. Seetharam and P.H. Zaidi. 2019. Morpho-physiological traits associated with heat stress tolerance in tropical maize (Zea mays L.) at reproductive stage. Aust. J. Crop Sci. 13: 536-545.
17. Rahman, S.U., M. Arif, K. Hussain, S. Hussain, T. Mukhtar, A. Razzaq and R.A. Iqbal. 2013. Evaluation of maize hybrids for tolerance to high temperature stress in central Punjab. Amer. J. Bioeng. Biotech. 1: 30-36.
18. Saeed, M., A. Mumtaz, D. Hussain, M. Arshad, M.I. Yousaf and M.S. Ahmad. 2018. Multivariate analysis-based evaluation of maize genotypes under high temperature stress. I3 Biodiversity, 1.
19. Sanchez, B., A. Rasmussen and J.R. Porter. 2014. Temperatures and the growth and development of maize and rice: a review. Global Change Biol. 20: 408-417.
20. Serna-Saldivar, S.O. 2018. Corn: Chemistry and technology, 3rd Edition. AASS International, Elsevier Inc., USA.
21. Shehzad, A., M.I. Yousaf, A. Ghani, K. Hussain, S. Hussain and M. Arshad. 2019. Genetic analysis and combining ability studies for morpho-phonological and grain yield traits in spring maize (Zea mays L.). Int. J. Biol. Biotech. 16: 925-931.
22. Singh, C., V. Kumar, I. Prasad, V.R. Patil and B.K. Rajkumar. 2016. Response of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.) genotypes to drought stress using drought tolerance indices. J. Crop Sci. Biotechnol. 19: 53-59.
23. Steel, R.G.D., J.H. Torrie and D.A. Dicky. 1997. Principles and Procedures of Statistics: A biometrical approach, 3rd Ed. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, USA.
24. United State Department of Agriculture. 2020. World Agricultural Production. United State Department of Agriculture, Circular series, WAP 04‒20.
25. Yousaf, M.I., K. Hussain, S. Hussain, R. Shahzad, A. Ghani, M. Arshad, A. Mumtaz and N. Akhter. 2017. Morphometric and phonological characterization of maize (Zea mays L.) germplasm under heat stress. Int. J. Biol. Biotech. 14: 271-278.
26. Yousaf, M.I., K. Hussain, S. Hussain, A. Ghani, M. Arshad, A. Mumtaz and R. A. Hameed. 2018. Characterization of indigenous and exotic maize hybrids for grain yield and quality traits under heat stress. Int. J. Agric. Biol. 20: 333-337.
27. Yousaf, M.I., K. Hussain, S. Hussain, A. Ghani, A. Shehzad, A. Mumtaz, M. Arshad, A. Mehmood, M. U. Khalid, N. Akhtar and M. H. Bhatti. 2020. Seasonal influence, heat unit accumulation and heat use efficiency in relation to maize grain yield in Pakistan. Maydica 64: 1-9.