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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (2): 134-148.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2019126

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Evaluation of water-saving and drought-resistant maize varieties in the Hexi oasis irrigation corridor

ZHANG Xue-ting1, WANG Xin-yong2, YANG Wen-xiong1,*, LIU Na1, YANG Chang-gang1   

  1. 1.Gansu Academy of Agricultural Science, Lanzhou 730070, China;
    2.College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • Received:2019-02-28 Revised:2019-06-14 Online:2020-02-20 Published:2020-02-20
  • Contact: E-mail: yang.w.x@263.net

Abstract: The Hexi oasis irrigation area is increasingly short of water resources. Maize is the chief food crop in the area. Establishing a comprehensive evaluation system to identify water-saving and drought-resistant maize varieties will be important in germplasm screening and the breeding of new varieties for this area. In this research, eight maize varieties with superior performance and productivity in this region were subjected to contrasting well-watered and drought stress treatments, and yield and eleven other physiological parameters and indices were determined, including a high yield and high water use efficiency index (YHWUEI) and a drought resistance index (DI). Results were evaluated using factor analysis, the membership function method, cluster analysis and grey relational analysis. Drought had significant effects on all variables and indices determined. It was found that the YHWUEI was more closely related to yield and water use efficiency than the DI. Factor analysis generated five independent multivariate indices which cumulatively explained 94.26% of data variation. The YHWUEI and the membership function U(xi) of the multivariate indices were each weighted 50% and combined to obtain an integrated score, D. Based on the D value, the rank of the tested cultivars for water-use saving and drought resistance was Ganyu 801>Lidan 295>Zhengde 305>Xianyu 335>Dunyu 13>Yuyuan 7879>Ganxin 2818>Qingdan 3. Cluster analysis divided the eight tested varieties into three categories: one variety belonged to category Ⅰ which exhibited strong water-use saving and drought resistance; four varieties belonged to category Ⅱ which had medium water-use saving and drought-resistance; three varieties belonged to category Ⅲ which displayed low water-use saving and drought-resistance. Grey relational analysis showed that grain length, grain width, kernels per number and barren ear tip could be directly used to evaluate the water-use saving capacity and drought resistance of maize. In conclusion, the YHWUEI index was introduced as a component in the construction of an integrated index of measured drought resistance traits, expressed as D, so as to make the evaluation more accurate.

Key words: maize, water-saving and drought resistance, high yield and high water use efficiency index (YHWUEI), comprehensive evaluation