Title of project: Physiological and Biochemical Basis of Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize
Objective:
- Identification of contrasting nitrogen use efficient maize inbred lines
- Identification of physio-biochemical traits contributing higher NUE in maize
- Expression profiling of key N-stress responsive genes in contrasting lines
Project team: Ishwar Singh, SL jat, Krishan Kumar and Pranjal Yadava
Major achievements: – in bullets with 2-3 photos
- Twenty one selected maize inbred lines were screened for two consecutive years 2018) under N sufficient (residual N + 180 Kg/ha) and N deficient (residual N + 23.5 Kg/ha) during Kharif 2017 and 2018 and extensively phenotyped for major physiological, biochemical and yield traits.
- There was significant reduction in plant height (37.8%), stem girth (23.4%), LAI (41.7%), chlorophyll content (27.2%), total soluble proteins (54.7%), nitrate reductase (34.0%) and glutamine synthase activity (50.7%) and grain yield (71.83) across the genotypes at flowering stage under nitrogen deficient conditions. However, Anthesis-silking-interval (ASI) prolonged to the magnitude of 93.8% under N deficient conditions.
- Based on the grain yield per se (Fig 2) and other physio-biochemical traits, two contrasting lines (DMI 56, highly tolerant to N-stress; DMI 81, highly susceptible to N-stress) were identified and their response to N-stress was further confirmed in hydroponic culture