Phenotyping for abiotic stress tolerance in maize low nitrogen stress: a field manual

Poor soil fertility is one of the primary constraints to maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where most of the farming land is heavily depleted of nitrogen (N) as a result of repeated crop cultivation over several decades without replenishment. This is largely associated with the high fertilizer cost and dependence on rain-fed agriculture that translates into most smallholder farmers being reluctant to invest in expensive inputs such as fertilizer. One approach to addressing the poor soil fertility problem is to exploit natural genetic variation in maize to develop improved varieties that respond better to the small amounts of fertilizer applied by small-scale farmers in SSA. Research has shown that there is substantial genetic variation for maize yield under nitrogen stress. Maize varietal performance under optimal fertilization is not always positively correlated, or predictive, of performance under the N stress conditions that prevail in SSA. Therefore, the most effective way to develop maize varieties that are better suited to low levels of nitrogen fertilization is to select directly under nitrogen stress through the establishment of well-managed, low N phenotyping sites. This manual is designed for maize breeders and field technicians in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America working on improving the tolerance of maize to low N stress. It covers aspects related to: Selection and development of fields suitable for low N stress phenotyping. Factors that affect the quality of low N stress phenotyping. Managing uniform stress in low N stress experiments. Effective and timely phenotypic data collection.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Zaman-Allah, M., Das, B., Cairns, J.E., Vinayan, M.T., Amsal Tesfaye Tarekegne, Magorokosho, C., Zaidi, P.H., Seetharam, K.
Format:	Handbook biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	CIMMYT 2018
Subjects:	Stress Tolerance, DROUGHT, MAIZE, ABIOTIC STRESS,
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10883/20836
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