Abstract
The effects of drought stress on seedlings’ growth and grain yield of 13 single cross maize hybrids and 11 breeding lines and cultivars of spring triticale were studied in greenhouse and field experiments. In the field experiment, the drought susceptibility index (DSIGY) was calculated by determining the change in grain yield (GY) in conditions with two soil moisture levels (IR, irrigated; D, drought). In the greenhouse experiment the response to soil drought was evaluated using DSIDW, by determining changes in the dry weight (DW) of vegetative plant parts. Marked variations in GY and DW were observed among the studied genotypes. In control conditions, the GY and DW in drought-sensitive genotypes were higher compared to the drought-resistant ones; but in drought conditions, the decreases in GY and DW in resistant genotypes were smaller than in drought-sensitive ones. DSIGY and DSIDW revealed variations in the degree of drought tolerance among the examined maize and triticale genotypes. The values of DSIGY in the field experiment and DSIDW in the greenhouse experiment enabled a division of the studied genotypes into drought-resistant or -sensitive groups. A close correlation between DSIGY and DSIDW was found. The positive linear correlation and determination coefficients between DSIGY and DSIDW were statistically significant (P = 0.05), being equal to R 2 = 0.614 (maize) and R 2 = 0.535 (triticale). The ranking of the studied genotypes based on DSIGY was in most cases consistent with the ranking based on DSIDW, which indicates that genetically conditioned drought tolerance is similar for plants in the seedling and reproductive growth stages or may at least partly have a common genetic background.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acevedo E, Craufurd PQ, Austin RB, Perez-Marco P (1991) Traits associated with high yield in barley in low-rainfall environments. J Agr Sci 116:23–36
Ackerson RC (1983) Comparative physiology and water relations of two corn hybrids during water stress. Crop Sci 23:278–283
Bennett JM (1990) Problems associated with the measuring plant water status. HortScience 25:1551–1554
Blum A (1988) Plant breeding for stress environments. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Blum A, Sinmena B, Ziv O (1980) An evaluation of seed and seedling drought tolerance screening tests in wheat. Euphytica 29:727–736
Bouslama M, Schapauch WT (1984) Stress tolerance in soybean. I. Evaluation of three screening techniques for heat and drought tolerance. Crop Sci 24:933–937
Clark GA (1990) Measurement of soil water potential. HortScience 25:1548–1551
Clarke JM, McCaig TN (1982) Evaluation of techniques for screening for drought resistance in wheat. Crop Sci 22:503–506
Doorenbos J, Kassam AH (1986) Yield response to water. FAO Irrigation and drainage paper. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Doorenbos J, Pruit WO (1977) Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements. FAO Irrigation and drainage paper. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Edey SN (1977) Growing degree-days and crop production in Canada. Agriculture Canada, Minister of Supply and Services Canada, Publication no. 163
Evans RO, Skagss RW, Sneed RE (1990) Normalized crop susceptibility factors for corn and soybean to excess water stress. Trans Am Soc Agric Eng 33:1153–1161
Evans RO, Skagss RW, Sneed RE (1991) Stress day index models to predict corn and soybean relative yield under high water table conditions. Trans Am Soc Agric Eng 5:1997–2005
Fischer RA, Maurer R (1978) Drought resistance in spring wheat cultivars. I. Grain yield responses. Aust J Agric Res 29:897–912
Gomez F, Oliva MA, Mielke MS, de Almeida AAF, Leita HG, Aquino LA (2008) Photosynthetic limitations in leaves of young Brazilian Green Dwarf coconut (Cocos macifera L. “nana” palm under well-watered conditions or recovering from drought stress. Environ Exp Bot 62:195–204
Górny AG, Sodkiewicz T (2001) Genetic analysis of the nitrogen and phosphorus utilization efficiencies in mature spring barley plants. Plant Breeding 120:129–132
Grzesiak S (1990) Reaction to drought of inbreds and hybrids of maize (Zea mays L.) as evaluated in field and greenhouse experiments. Maydica 35:303–311
Grzesiak S, Iijima M, Kono Y, Yamauehi A (1997) Differences in drought tolerance between cultivars of field bean and field pea: a comparison of drought-resistance and drought-sensitive cultivars. Acta Physiol Plant 19:349–357
Hanson AD, Nelson ChE (1985) Water adaptation of crop to drought. In: Carlson PS (ed) The biology of crop productivity. Academic Press, New York, pp 79–149
Hurd EA (1976) Plant breeding for drought resistance. In: Kozlowski TT (ed) Water deficit and plant growth. Academic Press, New York, vol. 4, pp 317–353
Jones HG (1993) Drought tolerance and water-use efficiency. In: Smith JAC, Griffiths H (eds) Water deficits plant responses from cell to community. Bios Scientific Publishers Limited, Oxford, pp 193–204
Kalaji MH, Pietkiewicz S (2004) Some physiological indices to be exploited as criteria tool in plant breeding. Plant Breeding Seeds Sci 49:19–39
King J (2011) Reaching for the Sun. How plant work (2nd edn.) Cambridge University Press, Part IV Stress, defense, and decline. pp 185–244
Kono Y, Yamauchi A, Kawamur N, Tatsumi J (1987) Interspecific differences of the capacities of waterlogging and drought tolerances among summer cereals. Jpn J Crop Sci 56:115–129
Kpoghomou BK, Sapra VT, Beyl CA (1990) Screening for drought tolerance: soybean germination and its relationship to seedling response. J Agron Crop Sci 164:153–159
Kumar D (2004) Breeding for drought resistance. In: Ashraf M, Harris PJC (eds) Abiotic stresses. Plant resistance Throught Breeding and Molecular Approaches, pp 145–176
Larsson S, Górny AG (1988) Grain yield and drought resistance indices of oat cultivars in field rain shelter and laboratory experiments. J Agron Crop Sci 161:277–286
Levitt J (1980) Responses of plants to environmental stresses. Academic Press, New York
Listowski A (1979) Agro-physiological aspects of plant productivity. Water and mineral nutrients (in Polish), Agrofizjologiczne podstawy produktywności roślin. Woda i składniki mineralne. PWN, Warsaw, pp 95–135
Lorens GF, Bennett JM, Loggale LB (1987) Differences in drought resistance between two corn hybrids. I. Water relations and root length density. Agron J 79:802–807
Martinielio P, Lorenzoni C (1985) Response of maize genotypes to drought tolerance tests. Maydica 30:361–370
Naylor RES, Su J (1998) Plant development of triticale cv. Lasko at different sowing date. J Agric Sci 130:297–306
Nayyar H, Gupta D (2006) Differential sensitivity of C3 and C4 plants to water deficit stress: association with oxidative stress and antioxidants. Environ Exp Bot 58:106–113
Paknejad F, Nasri M, Moghadam HRT, Zahedi H, Alahmadi MF (2007) Effects of drought stress on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, chlorophyll content and grain yield of wheat cultivars. J Biol Sci 7:841–847
Passioura JB, Condon AG, Richards RA (1993) Water deficits, the development of leaf area and crop productivity. In: Smith JAC, Griffiths H (eds) Water deficits plant responses from cell to community. BIOS Scientific Publishers Limited, Oxford, pp 253–264
Radomski C (1987) Agro-meteorolgy (in Polish). Agrometeorologia, PWN, Warsaw
Raynolds MP, Singh RP, Ibrahim A, Agech OAA, Larque-Saavedra A, Quick JS (1998) Evaluation physiological traits to complement empirical selection for wheat in warm environments. Euphytica 100:84–95
Richards RA (1991) Crop improvement for temperate Australia: future opportunities. Field Crop Res 39:141–169
Richards RA (1996) Defining selection criteria to improve yield under drought. Plant Grow Reg 20:157–166
Richards RA, Thurling N (1978) Variation between and within species of rapeseed (Brasica campestris and B. napus) in response to drought stress. I. Sensitivity at different stages of development. Aust J Agric Res 29:469–477
Royo C, Abaza M, Cantero C, Caldero A, Ramos JM, Gareia del Moral LF (1996) Likening between the effect of drought and terminal water-stress simulated by a senescing agent in triticale. J Agron Crop Sci 176:31–38
Royo C, Abaza M, Blaneo R, Gareia del Moral LF (2000) Triticale grain growth and morphometry as affected by drought stress, late sowing and simulated drought stress. Aust J Plant Physiol 27:1051–1059
Shao HB, Chu LY, Jaleel CA, Manivannan P, Panneerselvam R, Shao MA (2009) Understanding water deficit stress-induced changes in the basic metabolism of higher plants—biotechnologically and sustainably improving agriculture and the ecoenvironment in arid regions of the globe. Crit Rev Biotechnol 29(2):131–151
Sullivan ChY, Ross WN (1979) Selecting for drought and heat resistance in grain sorghum. In: Mussel H, Staples R (eds) Stress physiology in crop plant. Wiley and Sons, New York, pp 263–281
Trapani N, Gentinetta E (1984) Screening of maize genotypes using drought tolerance tests. Maydica 29:89–100
Turner NC (1986) Adaptation to water deficits: a changing perspective. Aust J Plant Physiol 13:175–190
Wardlaw JF, Sofield I, Cartwright PM (1980) Factor limiting the rate of dry matter accumulation in the grain of wheat grown at hight temperature. Aust J Plant Physiol 7:387–400
Winter SR, Musick JT, Porter KB (1988) Evaluation of screening techniques for breeding drought-resistant winter wheat. Crop Sci 28:512–516
Wu G, Wei ZK, Shao HB (2007) The mutual responses of higher plants to environment: physiological and microbiological aspects. Biointerfaces 59:113–119
Yan K, Chen P, Shao HB, Zhao S, Zhang L, Zhang L, Xu G, Sun J (2012) Photosynthetic characterization of Jerusalem artichoke during leaf expansion. Acta Physiol Plant 34:353–360
Zhang L, Mi X, Shao HB, Ma K (2011) Strong plant-soil associations in a heterogeneous subtropical broad-leaved forest. Plant Soil 347:211–220
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by W. Filek.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grzesiak, M.T., Marcińska, I., Janowiak, F. et al. The relationship between seedling growth and grain yield under drought conditions in maize and triticale genotypes. Acta Physiol Plant 34, 1757–1764 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-012-0973-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-012-0973-3