Abstract
Sweet maize breeding lines are harvested at physiological maturity to provide seed for the next generation. It is important to know how sugar quality and quantity in kernels change as plants obtain physiological maturity so that superior cultivars can be developed. Kernels of iso-lines of a shrunken2 sweet maize, susceptible and resistant to the causal organism of rust disease, were harvested at the fresh-market and physiological maturity stages and assayed for content of glucose, fructose, sucrose, total sugar, starch and water soluble polysaccharides (WSP). At fresh-market the susceptible iso-line had higher levels of glucose, fructose, total sugar and WSP, while the resistant iso-line had higher levels of sucrose. There was no difference in the amount of starch in kernels. At physiological maturity kernels of the susceptible iso-line had higher levels of each sugar and their totals, but lower levels of starch and WSP than those of the resistant iso-line. Since the iso-lines appear to process sugars dififerently they can likely be manipulated to better understand how to incorporate desired traits in improved cultivars.
Published Version
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