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Assessment of drought tolerance among Algerian maize populations from oases of the Saharan

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Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is severely affected by drought and this challenge is expected to worsen with climate change. One of the most promising solutions is breeding for drought tolerance that requires the identification of sources of drought tolerance. Eighteen maize populations from the Algerian Sahara were evaluated along with three European and two American checks in two Algerian locations under drought and control conditions. Under drought conditions, Algerian populations had large variability for most traits and the populations BTM and LOM out yielded most checks. The ratio yield under drought/yield under control conditions was 65.90, 65.33, and 53.23% for BTM, TAO and LOM, respectively. These populations maintained also yield components such as grain weight, ear length, number of kernel rows, ears per plant, and leaf area under stress conditions; furthermore, they have reduced leaf rolling. TAO and BTM presented the highest relative water content, and LOM had the highest proline content. Algerian populations can be considered as a novel source of favorable alleles for drought tolerance and show a wide variety of mechanisms of response to drought.

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Abbreviations

ASI:

Anthesis-silking interval

RWC:

Relative water content

dw:

Dry weight

GLM:

General linear model

LSD:

Least significant difference

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. A. Ordás for his advice in choosing the temperate varieties and for providing the improved composites. This project was financed by the Spanish National Plan for Research and Development (Project Code AGL2013-48852-C3-1-R).

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Author notes

  1. A. Djemel

    Present address: Dpto. Biología Vegetal y Ciencias del Suelo, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Vigo, Agrobiología Ambiental. Calidad de Suelos y Plantas (UVIGO), Unidad Asociada a la Misión Biológica de Galicia (CSIC), Campus As LagoasMarcosende, 36310, Vigo, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique, Avenue Hassan Badi, 16200, Algiers, Algeria

    A. Djemel, F. Zohra Cherchali & M. Benchikh-Le-Hocine

  2. Misión Biológica de Galicia (CSIC), P.O. Box 28, 36080, Pontevedra, Spain

    R. A. Malvar & P. Revilla

Authors
  1. A. Djemel
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  2. F. Zohra Cherchali
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  3. M. Benchikh-Le-Hocine
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  4. R. A. Malvar
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  5. P. Revilla
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Djemel.

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Djemel, A., Cherchali, F.Z., Benchikh-Le-Hocine, M. et al. Assessment of drought tolerance among Algerian maize populations from oases of the Saharan. Euphytica 214, 149 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-018-2225-0

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