ArticleFrontiers in plant science2025
A two-tier strategy for developing water deficit stress tolerant maize: hydroponics-based root phenotyping followed by rainfed field validation.
Article in Frontiers in plant science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Maize productivity is increasingly constrained by water deficit stress (WDS), particularly under erratic rainfall conditions. Efficient early-stage phenotyping coupled with field validation is critical for breeding WDS-tolerant genotypes. In this study, we developed a two-tier screening strategy integrating hydroponics-based root trait evaluation at pre-reproductive stage with subsequent field validation of maize inbreds under managed WDS at CIMMYT, Hyderabad. A set of 50 diverse maize inbreds were evaluated for root architectural traits and plant growth stages including grain yield components. Hydroponic screening applied PEG6000-induced osmotic stress to assess root length, tips, forks, segments and diameter, whereas field trials imposed pre-reproductive WDS through cumulative growing degree day-based irrigation withdrawal. Significant genotypic variation and genotype × trait interactions were observed across both environments, reflecting trait and environment-specific responses. Key root traits, including root tips, total length, forks and segments, showed strong positive correlations (r ≥ 0.70) with yield components and Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), underscoring their importance in WDS resilience. Multivariate analysis further confirmed the alignment of root vigor with kernel traits and canopy health as critical determinants of yield stability. Among the evaluated lines, introgressed ILM23 and ILM24 emerged as the principal donor lines, while PML1249, PML1275, and PML1285 were identified as promising donor sources, all exhibiting robust root systems, stable anthesis-silking interval (ASI) and superior stress tolerance indices. Spearman's rank correlation (ρ = 0.988) between hydroponics and field rankings highlighted the predictive reliability of controlled root phenotyping for field performance under WDS. This integrated hydroponics-to-field approach provides a rapid, efficient and cost-effective framework for the early identification of WDS-tolerant or high water-use-efficiency (WUE) maize hybrids, facilitating the accelerated breeding of resilient cultivars.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.