Improvement for tolerance to low soil nitrogen in tropical maize III. Variation in yield across environments

Abstract

Abstract When improving grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) grown under low soil N by recurrent selection, it is desirable to maintain or increase the stability of performance across sites differing in N status. The objective of this study was to identify the possible causes of increase variation in grain yield with selection for tolerance to low soil N in four cycles of selection (C0 to C3) of the lowland tropical maize population, Across 8328 BN, when grown in 12 irrigated environments characterized by different radiation and N availabilities. Yield components and patterns of biomass and N partitioning were examined. Correlation analysis of the data collected indicated that some relationships among traits thought to be important to performance differed in magnitude and sign among environments. For example, a positive correlation was observed between grain yield and preflowering N accumulation in the high-N environments, but no association was observed among these traits at low N. Correlations also differed significantly among seasons within an N level for some traits. For example, the correlation between final grain N concentration and N floret−1 at flowering under low N was 0.97 (P An analysis of yield components and N concentrations in plant parts indicated that yield variation in C1 (the selection cycle which had the greatest variation among environments) was associated with an over-investment in preflowering vegetative biomass, without a concomitant increase in post-flowering grain sink size. By C3, the number of kernels plant−1 had been increased, but yield apparently was limited by inadequate source capacity in the latter stages of grain-filling. Cycle 3 also produced 25% more root biomass than C0 when grown with adequate N supply in pots, while aboveground biomass increased by a smaller proportion (9%). Changes in biomass partitioning to roots may be an important adaptation to low-N environments. These results indicate that seasonal differences in the timing and magnitude of N and C supply play a large role in determining the adaptive value of a given trait, even when environments may be similar in the amount of N applied to, or absorbed by, the under nonlimiting N levels, and extensive testing in environments differing in C and N abundance seems essential to establishing progress from such breeding schemes. In addition, more effort to quantify the extent and timing of N stress in each season appears justified.