Physiological responses related to increased grain yield under drought in the first biotechnology-derived drought-tolerant maize.
Plant Cell Environ
; 38(9): 1866-80, 2015 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25210866
ABSTRACT
Maize (Zea mays ssp. maysâ
L.) is highly susceptible to drought stress. This work focused on whole-plant physiological mechanisms by which a biotechnology-derived maize event expressing bacterial cold shock protein B (CspB), MON 87460, increased grain yield under drought. Plants of MON 87460 and a conventional control (hereafter 'control') were tested in the field under well-watered (WW) and water-limited (WL) treatments imposed during mid-vegetative to mid-reproductive stages during 2009-2011. Across years, average grain yield increased by 6% in MON 87460 compared with control under WL conditions. This was associated with higher soil water content at 0.5 m depth during the treatment phase, increased ear growth, decreased leaf area, leaf dry weight and sap flow rate during silking, increased kernel number and harvest index in MON 87460 than the control. No consistent differences were observed under WW conditions. This indicates that MON 87460 acclimated better under WL conditions than the control by lowering leaf growth which decreased water use during silking, thereby eliciting lower stress under WL conditions. These physiological responses in MON 87460 under WL conditions resulted in increased ear growth during silking, which subsequently increased the kernel number, harvest index and grain yield compared to the control.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Biotecnologia
/
Zea mays
/
Secas
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Plant Cell Environ
Assunto da revista:
BOTANICA
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos