Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

QTL controlling root and shoot traits of maize seedlings under cold stress

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The improvement of early vigour is crucial for the adaptation of maize (Zea mays L.) to the climatic conditions of central Europe and the northern Mediterranean, where early sowing is an important strategy for avoiding the effect of summer drought. The objectives of this study were to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling cold-related traits and to investigate the relationships among them. A set of 168 F2:4 families of the Lo964 × Lo1016 cross was grown in a sand–vermiculite substrate at 15/13°C (day/night) until the one-leaf stage. Twenty QTL were identified for the four shoot and two seed traits examined. Analysis of root weight and digital measurements of the length and diameter of primary and seminal roots led to the identification of 40 QTL. The operating efficiency of photosystem II (ΦPSII) was related to seedling dry weight at both the phenotypic and genetic level (r=0.46, two matching loci, respectively) but was not related to root traits. Cluster analysis and QTL association revealed that the different root traits were largely independently inherited and that root lengths and diameters were mostly negatively correlated. The major QTL for root traits detected in an earlier study in hydroponics were confirmed in this study. The length of the primary lateral roots was negatively associated with the germination index (r=−0.38, two matching loci). Therefore, we found a large number of independently inherited loci suitable for the improvement of early seedling growth through better seed vigour and/or a higher rate of photosynthesis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Backhaus K, Erichson B, Plinke W, Weiber R (1994) Multivariate Analysemethoden. Eine anwendungsorientierte Einführung, 7 edn. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

  • Beauchamp EG, Lathwell DJ (1966) Effect of root zone temperature on corn leaf morphology. Can J Plant Sci 46:593–601

    Google Scholar 

  • Beavis WD (1998) QTL analyses: power, precision, and accuracy. In: Paterson AH (ed) Molecular dissection of complex traits. CRC Press, New York, pp 145–162

  • Blacklow WM (1972) Influence of temperature on germination and elongation of the radicle and shoot of corn (Zea mays L.). Crop Sci 12:647–650

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen GD (1991) Soil temperature, root growth, and plant function. In: Waisel Y, Eshel A, Kafkafi U (eds) Plant roots—the hidden half. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 309–330

  • Brouwer R (1967) Beziehung zwischen Spross und Wurzelwachstum. Angew Bot 41:244–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahn MD, Zobel RW, Bouldin DR (1989) Relationship between root elongation rate and diameter and duration of growth of lateral roots of maize. Plant Soil 119:271–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutforth HW, Shaykewich CF, Cho CM (1986) Effect of soil water and temperature on corn (Zea Mays L.) root growth during emergence. Can J Soil Sci 66:51–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Engels C (1994) Nutrient acquisition by plants and its limitations by low temperatures in maize. In: Dörffling K, Brettschneider B, Tantau H, Pithan K (eds) Crop adaptation to cool climates. COST 814 workshop. ECSP-EEC-EAEC, Brussels, pp 503–510

  • Engels C, Marschner H (1990) Effect of sub-optimal root zone temperatures at varied nutrient supply and shoot meristem temperature on growth and nutrient concentrations in maize seedlings (Zea mays L.). Plant Soil 126:215–225

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feix G, Hochholdinger F, Park WJ (2000) Maize root system and genetic analysis of its formation. In: Waisel Y, Eshel A, Kafkafi U (eds) Plant roots: the hidden half. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 205–220

  • Fracheboud Y, Ribaut J-M, Vargas M, Messmer R, Stamp P (2002) Identification of quantitative trait loci for cold-tolerance of photosynthesis in maize (Zea mays L.). J Exp Bot 53:1967–1977

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fryer MJ, Andrews JR, Oxborough K, Blower DA, Baker NR (1998) Relationship between CO2 assimilation, photosynthetic electron transport, and active O2 metabolism in leaves of maize in the field during periods of low temperature. Plant Physiol 116:571–580

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guingo A, Hébert Y, Charcosset A (1998) Genetic analysis of root traits in maize. Agronomie 18:225–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Haldimann P, Fracheboud Y, Stamp P (1996) Photosynthetic performance and resistance to photoinhibition of Zea mays L. leaves grown at sub-optimal temperature. Plant Cell Environ 19:85–92

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haley CS, Knott SA (1992) A simple regression method for mapping quantitative trait loci in line crosses using flanking markers. Heredity 69:315–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodges DM, Andrews CJ, Johnson DA, Hamilton RI (1997) Sensitivity of maize hybrids to chilling and their combining abilities at two developmental stages. Crop Sci 37:850–856

    Google Scholar 

  • Hund A (2003) Genetic analysis of the response of maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings to long-term mild chilling stress: a morpho-physiological approach. PhD thesis, ETH no. 15181, Zurich, Switzerland

  • Ihaka R, Gentleman R (1996) R: a language for data analysis and graphics. J Comput Graph Stat 5:299–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen RC, Stam P (1994) High resolution of quantitative traits into multiple loci via interval mapping. Genetics 136:1447–1455

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen RC, Van Ooijen JW, Stam P, Lister C, Dean C (1995) Genotype by environment interaction in genetic mapping for multiple quantitative trait loci. Theor Appl Genet 91:33–37

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang C, Zeng ZB (1995) Multiple trait analysis of genetic mapping for quantitative trait loci. Genetics 140:111–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Landi P, Giuliani MM, Darrah LL, Tuberosa R, Conti S, Sanguineti MC (2001) Variability for root and shoot traits in a maize population grown in hydroponics and in the field and their relationships with vertical root pulling resistance. Maydica 46:177–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Landi P, Sanguineti MC, Darrah LL, Giuliani MM, Salvi S, Conti S, Tuberosa R (2002) Detection of QTLs for vertical root pulling resistance in maize and overlap with QTLs for root traits in hydroponics and for grain yield under different water regimes. Maydica 47:233–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Lebreton C, Lazic Jancic V, Steed A, Pekic S, Quarrie SA (1995) Identification of QTL for drought responses in maize and their use in testing causal relationships between traits. J Exp Bot 46:853–865

    Google Scholar 

  • Leipner J, Fracheboud Y, Stamp P (1999) Effect of growing season on the photosynthetic apparatus and leaf antioxidative defenses in two maize genotypes of different chilling tolerance. Environ Exp Bot 42:129–139

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miedema P (1982) The effects of low temperature on Zea mays. Adv Agron 35:93–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Mock JJ, Eberhart SA (1972) Cold tolerance in adapted maize populations. Crop Sci 12:466–469

    Google Scholar 

  • Mock JJ, McNeil MJ (1979) Cold tolerance of maize inbred lines adapted to various latitudes in North America. Crop Sci 19:239–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Openshaw S, Frascaroli E (1997) QTL detection and marker-assisted selection for complex traits in maize. In: ASTA (ed) Proc 52nd Annu Corn Sorghum Res Conf. ASTA (American Seed Trade Association), Washington D.C., pp 44–53

  • Perry DA (1987) Handbook of vigor test methods. International Seed Testing Association, Zurich

  • Revilla P, Butron A, Malvar RA, Ordas A (1999) Relationships among kernel weight, early vigor, and growth in maize. Crop Sci 39:654–658

    Google Scholar 

  • Revilla P, Malvar RA, Cartea ME, Butron A, Ordas A (2000) Inheritance of cold tolerance of emergence and during early season growth in maize. Crop Sci 40:1579–1585

    Google Scholar 

  • Richner W, Soldati A, Stamp P (1996) Shoot-to-root relations in field-grown maize seedlings. Agron J 88:56–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Richner W, Kiel C, Stamp P (1997) Is seedling root morphology predictive of seasonal accumulation of shoot dry matter in maize? Crop Sci 37:1237–1241

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie SW, Hanway JJ (1984) How a corn plant develops. Special Report No. 48. Cooperative Extension Service, Ames, Iowa. http://maize.agron.iastate.edu/corngrows.html

  • Sanguineti MC, Giuliani MM, Govi G, Tuberosa R, Landi P (1998) Root and shoot traits of maize inbred lines grown in the field and in hydroponic culture and their relationship with root lodging. Maydica 43:211–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith SD, Millet AH (1964) Germination and sprouting responses of the tomato at low temperatures. Proc Am Soc Hortic Sci 84:480–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamp P (1979) Spross- und Wurzelmerkmale junger Maispflanzen verschiedener Konform in Abhängigkeit von der Temperatur. J Agron Crop Sci 148:99–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamp P (1984) Chilling tolerance of young plants demonstrated on the example of maize (Zea mays L.). Adv Agron Crop Sci, vol 7

  • Stirling CM, Nie GY, Aguilera C, Nugawela A, Long SP, Baker NR (1991) Photosynthetic productivity of an immature maize crop: changes in quantum yield of CO2 assimilation, conversion efficiency and thylakoid proteins. Plant Cell Environ 14:3905–3914

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone PJ, Sorensen IB, Jamieson PD (1999) Effect of soil temperature on phenology, canopy development, biomass and yield of maize in a cool-temperature climate. Field Crops Res 63:169–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuberosa R, Salvi S, Sanguineti MC, Landi P, Maccaferri M, Conti S (2002a) Mapping QTLs regulating morpho-physiological traits and yield: case studies, shortcomings and perspectives in drought-stressed maize. Ann Bot 89:941–963

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tuberosa R, Sanguineti MC, Landi P, Giuliani MM, Salvi S, Conti S (2002b) Identification of QTLs for root characteristics in maize grown in hydroponics and analysis of their overlap with QTLs for grain yield in the field at two water regimes. Plant Mol Biol 48:697–712

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Utz HF, Melchinger AE, Schön CC (2000) Bias and sampling error of the estimated proportion of genotypic variance explained by quantitative trait loci determined from experimental data in maize using cross validation and validation with independent samples. Genetics 154:1839–1849

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walter S, Bürgi H (1996) Report on the project root detector: computer aided evaluation of scanned images of roots. ETH, Institute of Plant Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeng ZB (1994) Precision mapping of quantitative trait loci. Genetics 136:1457–1468

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Anna and Lilly Stamp for their help in root imaging; Paolo Losio and Lorenz Dürr for their assistance with the root detector software. The study was funded by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science, International Research Programmes—COST 828.

Author information

Author notes

  1. A. Hund

    Present address: Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), ETH-Zentrum, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    A. Hund, Y. Fracheboud, A. Soldati & P. Stamp

  2. Dip. Scienze e Tecnologie Agroambientali (DiSTA), Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    E. Frascaroli & S. Salvi

Authors
  1. A. Hund
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Y. Fracheboud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Soldati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. E. Frascaroli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S. Salvi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. P. Stamp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Hund.

Additional information

Communicated by H.C. Becker

This paper is dedicated to our friend and colleague Alberto Soldati, who passed away unexpectedly.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hund, A., Fracheboud, Y., Soldati, A. et al. QTL controlling root and shoot traits of maize seedlings under cold stress. Theor Appl Genet 109, 618–629 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-004-1665-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-004-1665-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation