Evaluation of biochemical traits and some gene expression in maize hybrids under drought stress conditions

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M. Sc. Student, Dept. of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

2 Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

3 Ph. D. Graduated, Dept. of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Among the crop plants, maize has a quite special status for supplying human food. Researchers have found that drought has a direct relationship with the limitation of corn cultivation and production in the world. Drought stress cause about 17% decrease in the annual grain maize yield in the world. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of drought stress on some gene expression and biochemical traits related to drought tolerance in maize under field conditions. The experiment was conducted in split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications. The main factor was drought stress in three levels including 75±5 mm (normal conditions as control), 115±5 mm (mild stress) and 140±5 mm (severe stress) evaporation from the class A evaporation pan, and sub-factor included three maize hybrids, Karoon and SC704 (late maturity hybrids) and Mobin (mediun early maturity hybrid). The measured traits included the amount of abscisic acid (ABA) and indole acetic acid (IAA) and expression of MIPS, ZmFer1 and ZmPR10 genes. Sampling was done in three growth stages including four leaves, pollination and 10 days after pollination. The results showed Karoon hybrid had a significant difference with the other hybrids under under severe stress conditions and ten days after pollination for ABA and IAA content (345 and 468 ng/g fresh weight, respectively) and showed more tolerance to drought stress. The evaluation of MIPS, ZmFER1 and ZmPR10 genes also showed that among the studied hybrids, Karoon hybrid had more gene expression in different stress levels than the control and in almost all measured stages. The results of this research showed that the higher content of abscisic acid and indole acetic acid hormones as well as the higher expression of the studied genes are effective in inducing drought stress tolerance and among the studied hybrids, Karoon with the higher content of these hormones and the higher expression of genes compared to the other cultivars had higher tolerance to drought stress.

Keywords


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