Screening of Drought Tolerant Maize Hybrids and Identifying for Drought Indicators

Drought was the primary cause of low and unstable yield for maize in China even around the world.A split-plot design was used in the study with the two water treatments being as main factor including well water and drought stress and the 145 new maize crosses being as sub-factor.The main agronomic and physiological traits related to yield and drought tolerance were selected during the trial.After comparison,analysis of variance and correlation for these traits,the impact of drought and the relationship between drought and these traits were studied.The results showed that crosses B119,B148,B85,B143 and B95 were selected as elite drought tolerant crosses which were high yield and good performance under both water treatments.The traits plant height,fresh weight per plot,hundred-kernel weight and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) at 8-leaf stage were identified as drought indicators which were significantly related to yield under both water treatments.The research results were important for drought tolerant maize identification and breeding,meanwhile the elite drought tolerant crosses selected from the study would be helpful to reduce the yield loss from drought and increase the maize production of Yunnan province.