article · Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
A field study evaluated how nitrogen fertilisation affects biomass allocation and movement in two maize varieties subjected to different drought conditions: a short pre-anthesis drought and a prolonged drought bracketing flowering. The varieties, Pioneer 30B80 and Suwan 4452, were tested at nitrogen rates of zero, an optimal 160 kilograms per hectare, and a supra-optimal 320 kilograms per hectare. Prolonged drought across flowering caused greater disruption to anthesis-silking intervals, dry matter movement, leaf greenness, assimilate contribution to grain, kernel characteristics, and overall yield than early short drought. Applying nitrogen at the optimal rate delivered the best outcomes across almost all evaluated traits. Pioneer 30B80 demonstrated superior performance across both drought types, supported by larger root xylem vessels and greater dry matter accumulation in its leaves and roots compared to Suwan 4452.
Maize yields are vulnerable to water scarcity, especially around flowering. Understanding how nitrogen management interacts with drought helps identify practices that maintain crop productivity under stress. Recognising specific anatomical and physiological traits, such as root xylem size and biomass distribution, enables researchers and growers to select maize varieties capable of withstanding prolonged dry spells.
The findings inform crop management strategies for farmers in water-scarce environments and offer actionable selection criteria for seed companies and maize breeders. Plant breeders can utilise the Pioneer 30B80 variety directly in breeding programmes to develop drought-tolerant commercial cultivars. As the work evaluates existing commercial varieties in field conditions, the management guidance is applied and tested, while the breeding application represents early to mid-stage variety development.
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Plants have evolved different mechanisms to survive under stress conditions. This field study was conducted to evaluate the influence of nitrogen (N) application on dry biomass allocation and translocation in two maize varieties under short pre-anthesis and prolonged bracketing flowering period of drought. Two maize varieties, ‘Pioneer 30B80ʹ and ‘Suwan 4452ʹ receiving N at 0 (control), 160 (optimal) and 320 (supra-optimal) kg ha−1 were subjected to short pre-anthesis and prolonged bracketing flowering periods of drought. Prolonged bracketing flowering period of drought had more suppressive effect on anthesis-silking interval, dry matter allocation and translocation, leaf greenness, contribution of current assimilates to grain (CCAG), kernel number, kernel weight and kernel yield of two maize varieties than a short pre-anthesis drought. Nitrogen application at optimal level was the best for all traits, except CCAG. The maize variety ‘Pioneer 30B80ʹ performed better under both drought types due to more root xylem vessels of large size and more accumulation of dry matter in leaves and roots than the variety ‘Suwan 4452ʹ. Therefore, the variety ‘Pioneer 30B80ʹ may be planted in drought prone environments and may be used in breeding program aimed at developing drought-tolerant cultivars.
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DOI: 10.1080/03650340.2018.1538557
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