Details for Are source and sinks strengths genetically linked in maize plants subjected to water deficit? A QTL study of the responses of leaf growth and Anthesis-Silking Interval to water deficit.

Welcker C, Boussuge B, Bencivenni C, Ribaut J-M and Tardieu F (2007). Are source and sinks strengths genetically linked in maize plants subjected to water deficit? A QTL study of the responses of leaf growth and Anthesis-Silking Interval to water deficit. Journal of Experimental Botany 58(2):339–349. (DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erl227).

Leaf growth and Anthesis–Silking Interval (ASI) are the main determinants of source and sink strengths of maize via their relations with light interception and yield, respectively. They depend on the abilities of leaves and silks to expand under fluctuating environmental conditions, so the possibility is raised that they may have a partly common genetic determinism. This possibility was tested in a mapping population which segregates for ASI. Maximum leaf elongation rate per unit thermal time (parameter a) and the slopes of its responses to evaporative demand and soil water status (parameters b and c) were measured in greenhouse and growth chamber experiments, in two series of 120 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) studied in 2004 and 2005 with 33 RILs in common both years.