Breeding for flooding tolerant maize using "teosinte" as a germplasm resource

Abstract

Flooding or waterlogging is a major factor in reducing crop yields. In order to increase crop productivity in temporarily flooded soils, development of flooding-tolerant lines is required. Three primary factors affecting flooding tolerance in plants have been reported: (1) the ability to grow adventitious roots at the soil surface during flooding; (2) the capacity to form root aeren- chyma; and (3) tolerance to toxins (e.g., Fe2+, H2S) under reducing soil conditions. By analyzzing these components separately, it could be possible to perform selections for genotypes exhibiting varying degrees of flooding tolerance. In quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses for flooding tolerance, using teosinte as a germ- plasm resource, we have identified several QTLs associated to flooding traits. Based on the DNA marker information linked to flooding toler- ance-related QTLs, the potential transfer of QTLs conferring flooding tolerance from teosinte to maize and pyramiding these QTLs into selected maize lines are now possible.