Germination and early growth of maize Sweet Maize (Zea mays L.), var. (SEL. CONETA) under irrigation with saline water were investigated in a pot experiment with different soil types. Seven salinity levels of irrigation water up to 12 dS/m were used on a Clay soil (C) and a Sandy-Loam (SL). Emergence of maize was delayed under irrigation with saline water, and the final percentage of germinatio...

Epidermal and subepidermal cells in the abaxial, basal region of the maize (Zea mays L.) immature zygotic embryo (IZE) scutellum can be induced by exogenous auxin to proliferate and undergo somatic embryogenesis. Successful genetic transformation of IZEs depends not only on optimizing transformation parameters for these totipotent cells, but also on achieving high embryogenic callus induction f...

BACKGROUND Iron (Fe) deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide. Iron biofortification is a preventative strategy that alleviates Fe deficiency by improving the amount of absorbable Fe in crops. In the present study, we used an in vitro digestion/Caco 2 cell culture model as the guiding tool for breeding and development of two maize (Zea mays L.) lines with contrasting Fe ...

The complex evolutionary history of maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) has been clarified with genomic-level data from modern landraces and wild teosinte grasses [1, 2], augmenting archaeological findings that suggest domestication occurred between 10,000 and 6,250 years ago in southern Mexico [3, 4]. Maize rapidly evolved under human selection, leading to conspicuous phenotypic transformations, as ...

A new form of fructokinase has been identified from developing maize (Zea mays L.) kernels that utilizes CTP, UTP, and GTP from four to eight times more effectively than ATP at nonlimiting concentrations. Ten millimolar dithiothreitol was necessary to stabilize activity. A second form of fructokinase was nonspecific for nucleoside triphosphate whereas a third form was fairly specific for ATP.

Lysine-ketoglutarate reductase activity was detected and characterized in the developing endosperm of maize (Zea mays L.). The enzyme showed specificity for its substrates: lysine, alpha-ketoglutarate, and NADPH. Formation of the reaction product saccharopine was demonstrated. The pH optimum of the enzyme was close to 7, and the K(m) for lysine and alpha-ketoglutarate were 5.2 and 1.8 millimola...

In the range 16 to 29 degrees C, increases in temperature caused large (two-to threefold) increases in growth velocity, growth strain rate, and biomass deposition rate in primary roots of maize, Zea mays L. Temperature had small effects on root diameter, fresh weight density, and dry weight density, and negligible effects on length of the growth zone and growth strain at particular positions.

To determine the optimal ploughing depth and to make tillage simpler and less costly, but also taking account of edaphic and climatic conditions as well as biological and agrotechnical requirements of crops grown, long-term investigations (1994-2009) have been carried out on Stagnic Luvisol of sloping terrains in central Croatia near Daruvar. Th e paper presents the results relating to plant de...

Intercropping and N fertilization play an important role in increasing crop yield. In order to further understand the advantage mechanism of intercropping and the effect of increasing N application on the advantage effect of intercropped crop, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different cropping patterns (i.e. M, maize monoculture; I1, maize-cotton intercrop; I2, ma...

Naphthalic anhydride is a seed-applied herbicide safener which reduces the toxicity of ima­ zethapyr, an imidazolinone herbicide, to maize (Zea mays L.). Protection of maize from ima­ zethapyr was dependent on the amount of naphthalic anhydride applied to the seed. M etabo­ lism of imazethapyr by maize roots and shoots was increased by exposure of the roots to a solution containing naphthalic a...