Maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield is assumed to be source limited during the flowering period but sink growth; however, environmental restrictions active filling may strongly affect final kernel weight (KW). In this study, we evaluated effect of natural changes in photothermal conditions lag phase (LP) and effective grain-filling (EGFP) on KW, its physiological determinants, post-flowering source...

Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), a severe fungal disease causing yield losses worldwide, is most effectively controlled by resistant varieties. Genomic prediction could greatly aid resistance breeding efforts. However, the development of accurate prediction models requires large training sets of genotyped and phenotyped individuals. Maize hybrid breeding is based on distinct heterotic groups t...

Maize is highly genetically and phenotypically diverse. Tropical maize and teosinte are important genetic resources that harbor unique alleles not found in temperate maize hybrids. To access these resources, breeders must be able to extract favorable unique alleles from tropical maize and teosinte from their population J. B. Holland ( ) · S. Sood Department of Crop Science, North Carolina State...

In order to increase the efficiency of maize hybrid seed production it is necessary achieve a high grain yield reduce costs. This goal requires an expansion basic knowledge inheritance characters in develop new breeding techniques improve experimental materials with hard endosperm (flint). The balanced lethal system allows study relative contribution different chromosome segments vigour due het...

The genetic dissection of root architecture and functions allows for a more effective and informed design of novel root ideotypes and paves the way to evaluate their effects on crop resilience to a number of abiotic stresses. In maize, limited attention has been devoted to the genetic analysis of root architecture diversity at the early stage. The difference in embryonic (including seminal and ...

Waxy maize (Zea mays L. var. ceratina) is an important vegetable and economic crop that is thought to have originated from cultivated flint maize and most recently underwent divergence from common maize. In this study, a total of 110 waxy and 110 common maize inbred lines were genotyped with 3072 SNPs to evaluate the genetic diversity, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium decay as w...

Waxy maize (Zea mays L. var. certaina Kulesh), with many excellent characters in terms of starch composition and economic value, has grown in China for a long history and its production has increased dramatically in recent decades. However, the evolution and origin of waxy maize still remains unclear. We studied the genetic diversity of Chinese waxy maize including typical landraces and inbred ...

European flint × U.S. dent is the most common heterotic pattern used in early maize (Zea mays L.) breeding programs in Spain. Two synthetic maize populations, EZS1 (formed from four Spanish flint populations), and EZS2 (formed from four American dent populations), were developed in Zaragoza, Spain. These synthetics, which showed heterotic behaviour, were subjected to six cycles of S1 recurrent ...

Maize landraces represent potential sources of favorable traits for current and future breeding programs.. A comparative characterization of twenty-one flint maize landraces from Maize Research Institute "Zemun Polje“ gene bank was achieved by using morphological traits and SSR markers. Applied marker systems revealed high level of genetic heterogenity beetween landraces. Cluster analysis of th...

The transition from the vegetative to reproductive development is a critical event in the plant life cycle. The accurate prediction of flowering time in elite germplasm is important for decisions in maize breeding programs and best agronomic practices. The understanding of the genetic control of flowering time in maize has significantly advanced in the past decade. Through comparative genomics,...