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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol.10, No.6

Publication Date:December 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.106.13340.

Yadav, P. K., Singh, A. K., Tripathi, M. K., Tiwari, S., Yadav, S. K., & Tripathi, N. (2022). Morpho-Physiological and Molecular

Characterization of Maize (Zea Mays L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 65-87.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Morpho-Physiological and Molecular Characterization of Maize

(Zea Mays L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance

Pramod KumarYadav

Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture

Rajmata VijayarajeScindia Agricultural University

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

A. K. Singh

Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture

Rajmata VijayarajeScindia Agricultural University

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

M. K. Tripathi

Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture

Rajmata VijayarajeScindia Agricultural University

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Department of Plant Molecular Biology& Biotechnology

College of Agriculture,Rajmata VijayarajeScindia

Agricultural University, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Sushma Tiwari

Department of Plant Molecular Biology& Biotechnology

College of Agriculture,Rajmata VijayarajeScindia

Agricultural University, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Sanjeev Kumar Yadav

Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture

Rajmata VijayarajeScindia Agricultural University

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Niraj Tripathi

Directorate of Research Services

Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur

Madhya Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

Maize is abstemiously sensitive to drought. Drought distresses almost all

characteristics of maize growth in variable degrees at all phases of life cycle.

Drought pressure, predominantly at flowering period, has been recognized as the

most destructing aspect restraining maize production and productivity. So,

improving drought tolerance has become the top priority in maize improvement

programs. In the current study, 80 genotypes of maize including 66 hybrid, 12

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Yadav, P. K., Singh, A. K., Tripathi, M. K., Tiwari, S., Yadav, S. K., & Tripathi, N. (2022). Morpho-Physiological and Molecular Characterization of

Maize (Zea Mays L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 65-87.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.106.13340

techniques, previous accomplishments were not as notable (Choudhary et al., 2021c). The

enhancement of drought tolerance and other abiotic conditions has currently been aided by

developments in germplasm augmentation, evaluation methodologies for genetic inheritance,

and with the application of DNA based markers.

Genetic studies in the past revealed that practically all variables connected to drought are

influenced by both additive and dominant gene effects in inheritance (Shiri et al., 2010 a;

Shiriet al., 2010b). For gene cloning and marker-assisted selection in crop improvement, it is

crucial to recognize the fully connected DNA markers with the targeted gene and map its

chromosome locus. The ability to discover and select Mendelian mechanisms that underlie

both simple and complex agronomic traits has been facilitated by recent advances in plant

molecular genetics (Dekkers and Hospital, 2002). Utilizing beneficial genes in crops more

quickly is made possible by the use of molecular markers in conjunction with plant breeding

techniques (Dar et al. 2018). Therefore, the selection of drought-tolerant cultivars in maize

may benefit from molecular markers-based screening in conjunction with field-based

experimental analyses. As a result, SSR or microsatellite markers were used for the study's

genotype screening of maize. Due to their advantages of being genetically codominant, robust,

repeatable, hypervariable, informative, and generally simple to use, SSR markers have been

used in the screening of different genotypes of different crops (Pramaniket al., 2019;

Upadhyay et al., 2020; Adlaket al., 2021; Makwana et al., 2021; Mishra et al., 2021e; Mishra et

al., 2021f; Verma et al., 2021; Yadav et al., 2021; Mandloiet al., 2022; Mishra et al., 2022a;

Mishra et al., 2022b; Rathore et al., 2022). Numerous SSR markers and Single Nucleotide

Polymorphisms (SNPs) together provide considerable benefits for DNA fingerprinting, genetic

diversity research, gene/QTL mapping, and marker-aided breeding in crops including maize

(Adhikari et al. 2021).

In terms of molecular diversity and marker trait association analysis, there are numerous

examples of microsatellite marker applications in maize (Xu et al. 2009; Adu et al. 2019;

Kumar et al. 2022a). Microsatellite markers have been found effective in producing a high

level of polymorphism in maize (Kaur et al. 2011; Bocianowski et al. 2021), and this property

of the markers makes them appropriate for analyzing genetic diversity (Sathua et al. 2018;

Kumar et al. 2022b). Matsuoka et al. (2002) employed SSR markers to explore evolution in

maize. However, SSR markers connected to drought resistance were found by Dubey et al.

(2009) in tropical maize lines. There are, however, roughly 20 QTLs connected to the ability to

withstand water stress, according to the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (2010).

Identification and confirmation of the chromosomal loci for grain production and drought

tolerance in maize are required owing to the intricacy of the physiological mechanisms

affecting both yield and tolerance to drought (Xiao et al., 2005; Liu and Qin, 2021). In order to

find useful SSR markers for grain production of hybrid maize plants in both well-watered and