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Genetic Analysis of Maize Root Characteristics in Response to Low Nitrogen Stress

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Abstract

Under low-input cropping systems, nitrogen (N) can be a limiting factor in plant growth and yield. Identifying genotypes that are more efficient at capturing limited N resources and the traits and mechanisms responsible for this ability is important. Root trait has a substantial influence on N acquisition from soils. Nevertheless, inconsistencies still exist as to the effect of low N on root length and its architecture in terms of lateral and axial roots. For maize, a crop utilizing heterosis, little is known about the relationship between parents and their crosses in the response of root architecture to N availability. Here 7 inbred maize lines and 21 of their crosses created by diallel mating were used to study the effect of N stress on root morphology as well as the relationship between the inbreds and their crosses. With large genotypic differences, low N generally suppresses shoot growth and increases the root to shoot ratio with or without increasing root biomass in maize. Maize plants responded to N deficiency by increasing total root length and altering root architecture by increasing the elongation of individual axial roots and enhancing lateral root growth, but with a reduction in the number of axial roots. Here, the inbreds showed weaker responses in root biomass and other root parameters than their crosses. Heterosis of root traits was significant at both N levels and was attributed to both the general combining ability (GCA) and special combining ability (SCA). Low N had substantial affects on the pattern of heterosis, GCA and SCA affects on root traits for each of the crosses suggesting that selection under N stress is necessary in generating low N-tolerant maize genotypes.

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Abbreviations

ALAR:

average length of axial root

AR:

axial root

LR:

lateral root

L/A:

ratio of lateral to axial root length

NAR:

number of axial root

R/S:

root/shoot ratio

TLAR:

total length of axial root

TLLR:

total length of lateral root

TRL:

total root length

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Plant–Soil Interaction, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, P R China

    Liang Chun, Guohua Mi, Fanjun Chen & Fusuo Zhang

  2. College of Agronomy and Biotechnique, China Agricultural University, 100094, Beijing, PR China

    Jiansheng Li

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  1. Liang Chun
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  2. Guohua Mi
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  3. Jiansheng Li
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  4. Fanjun Chen
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  5. Fusuo Zhang
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Correspondence to Fanjun Chen.

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Chun, L., Mi, G., Li, J. et al. Genetic Analysis of Maize Root Characteristics in Response to Low Nitrogen Stress. Plant Soil 276, 369–382 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-005-5876-2

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