Chen Xu^1,#, Tianhao Luan^1,#, Zexin Qi², Xiaolong Liu³, Yaliang Liu⁴, Hui Sun⁵, Yueqiao Li¹, Ning Sun¹, Qian Li¹, Shaofeng Bian¹, Lihua Zhang^1,*, Hongxiang Zhao^1,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.94, No.11, pp. 3703-3719, 2025, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2025.071324 - 01 December 2025

Abstract Optimizing drip irrigation with straw mulch return represents a promising sustainable intensification strategy for revolutionizing regional water management. This 2-year controlled field experiment examined straw incorporation effects (removal and return) and drip irrigation levels (200, 350, 500 mm) on maize carbon-nitrogen metabolism, root bleeding sap characteristics, dry matter accumulation, and yield. Dry matter and yield increased with irrigation amount. Under 200–350 mm irrigation, straw return enhanced root bleeding intensity; elevated nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium concentrations in bleeding sap; and promoted soluble sugar and hydrolyzed amino acid contents, establishing material foundations for yield formation. More >

Zhunruo Feng¹, Ruomeng Shi², Yuhan Jiang³, Yiming Han¹, Zeyang Ma¹, Yuheng Ren^4,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.84, No.2, pp. 3559-3575, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.065152 - 03 July 2025

Abstract In this study, we propose Space-to-Depth and You Only Look Once Version 7 (SPD-YOLOv7), an accurate and efficient method for detecting pests in maize crops, addressing challenges such as small pest sizes, blurred images, low resolution, and significant species variation across different growth stages. To improve the model’s ability to generalize and its robustness, we incorporate target background analysis, data augmentation, and processing techniques like Gaussian noise and brightness adjustment. In target detection, increasing the depth of the neural network can lead to the loss of small target information. To overcome this, we introduce the… More >

Shamim Ara Bagum¹, Mahbub Ul Islam², M Shalim Uddin^2,*, Sripati Sikder³, Ahmed Gaber⁴, Akbar Hossain^5,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.94, No.6, pp. 1897-1919, 2025, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2025.065607 - 27 June 2025

Abstract The yield of maize (Zea mays L.) is highly influenced by nitrogen fertilization. This study investigated the impact of nitrogen fertilization on morphophysiological traits in maize (Zea mays L.) and developed algorithms to relate manual phenotyping and digital phenotyping of maize with leaf nitrogen and digital field image traits. The experiment included three hybrid maize varieties, V1 (Hybrid 981), V2 (BARI Hybrid maize-9), and V3 (Hybrid P3396), which were evaluated across three nitrogen levels (N1 = 100 kg N ha⁻¹, N2 = 200 kg N ha⁻¹, N3 = 300 kg N ha⁻¹) in a split-plot design with three replications.… More >

Gülay Zulkadir^*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.94, No.6, pp. 1879-1896, 2025, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2025.064144 - 27 June 2025

Abstract Soil salinization is a prominent global environmental issue that considerably affects the sustainable development of agriculture worldwide. Maize, a key crop integral to the global agricultural economy, is especially susceptible to the detrimental impacts of salt stress, which can impede its growth and development from the germination phase through to the seedling stage. Soil salinity tends to escalate due to improper irrigation methods, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments. Consequently, it is essential to evaluate potential genotypes and select those with high salt tolerance. In this study, 39 popcorn kernel genotypes were examined under varying… More >

Mohamed M. Kamara^1,*, Nora M. Al Aboud², Hameed Alsamadany³, Abeer M. Kutby⁴, Imen Ben Abdelmalek⁵, Diaa Abd El-Moneim⁶, Motrih Al-Mutiry⁷

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.94, No.1, pp. 101-122, 2025, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2025.058033 - 24 January 2025

Abstract Nitrogen (N) is a crucial nutrient vital for the growth and productivity of maize. However, excessive nitrogen application can result in numerous environmental and ecological problems, such as water pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, breeding maize hybrids resilient to low nitrogen conditions is crucial for sustainable agriculture, especially under low nitrogen conditions. Consequently, this study aimed to evaluate the combining ability and heterosis of maize lines, recognize promising hybrids, and study gene action controlling key traits under low and recommended N stress conditions. The half-diallel mating design hybridized seven maize inbreds, resulting… More >

Mohamed M. Kamara¹, Fatmah A. Safhi², Nora M. Al Aboud³, Maha Aljabri³, Samah A. Alharbi³, Hesham S. Ghazzawy^4,5, Mohammed O. Alshaharni⁶, Eman Fayad⁷, Wessam F. Felemban^8,9, Diaa Abd El-Moneim¹⁰, Abdallah A. Hassanin¹¹, Imen Ben Abdelmalek^12,*, Abdelraouf M. Ali¹³, Elsayed Mansour^14,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.93, No.12, pp. 3465-3485, 2024, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2024.058628 - 31 December 2024

Abstract Developing high-yield maize hybrids is critical for sustaining maize production, especially in the face of rapid climate changes and the growing global population. Exploring the genetic diversity and combining ability in parental inbreds is needed for developing such high-yielding hybrids. Consequently, this study aimed at evaluating parental genetic diversity employing simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers, estimating effects of general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities for grain yield and yield contributing characters, identifying high yielding hybrids, and evaluating the association of SCA effects and performance of hybrids with genetic distance. Half-diallel mating scheme was utilized… More >

Jianbo Fei^1,2,4, Zhibo Liu¹, Piwu Wang^1,3, Jing Qu², Siyan Liu¹, Shuyan Guan^1,3,*, Yiyong Ma^1,3

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.93, No.12, pp. 3617-3635, 2024, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2024.052704 - 31 December 2024

Abstract The WRKY transcription factors play important roles in various biological processes such as plant development, defense regulation, and stress response. Despite this, there is limited information available on drought-related WRKY genes in maize. Through RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, a WRKY transcription factor called ZmWRKY25 was identified in this study. ZmWRKY25 belongs to Group II and is localized in the nucleus. Protein interaction analysis revealed that ZmWRKY25 interacts with several proteins involved in the abscisic acid (ABA) signal pathway. Expression of ZmWRKY25 was found to be up-regulated in response to drought, salt, and ABA treatments in tobacco plants. More >

Bushra Rehman¹, Asma Zulfiqar¹, Houneida Attia², Rehana Sardar³, Muneera A. Saleh², Khalid H. Alamer⁴, Ibtisam M. Alsudays⁵, Faisal Mehmood⁶, Qamar uz Zaman^7,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.93, No.8, pp. 1819-1838, 2024, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2024.048780 - 30 August 2024

Abstract Salinity is a major abiotic stress that hinders plant development and productivity and influences agricultural yield. Seed priming is a technique used to boost germination and seedling growth under abiotic stress. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of seed priming with potassium nitrate (KNO₃) at various levels (0%, 0.50%, 1.00% and 1.50%) under salt stress (0, 75, 100 mM NaCl) on two maize verities (MNH360 and 30T60) for the growth, development and metabolic attributes results revealed that in maize variety MNH360, KNO₃ priming’s significantly enhanced growth parameters than in maize variety 30T60 under… More >

Xin Qi^1,#, Yu Wang^1,#, Xing Zhang¹, Xiaoshuang Wei¹, Xinyang Liu¹, Zhennan Wang¹, Zhenhui Wang^1,*, Fenglou Ling^2,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.93, No.7, pp. 1767-1779, 2024, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2024.052844 - 30 July 2024

Abstract DNA methylation is an important epigenetic regulatory mechanism, it regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factor(s) to DNA. In this study, a novel methyltransferase 2a gene (Zmet2a) was cloned in maize and identified by polymerase chain reaction-base (PCR-base) using a bioinformatics strategy. The Zmet2a cDNA sequence is 2739 bp long and translates to 912 amino acid peptides. The Zmet2a protein revealed that it contains BAH and CHROMO structural domains, is a non-transmembrane protein that is hydrophilically unstable, and has no signal peptide structure. Meanwhile, we verified More >

Pengcheng Li^1,2,#, Tianze Zhu^1,#, Yunyun Wang^1,2, Shuangyi Yin¹, Xinjie Zhu¹, Minggang Ji¹, Wenye Rui¹, Houmiao Wang¹, Zefeng Yang^1,2,*, Chenwu Xu^1,2,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.93, No.7, pp. 1441-1453, 2024, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2024.052219 - 30 July 2024

Abstract The nutritional composition and overall quality of maize kernels are largely determined by the key chemical components: protein, oil, and starch. Nevertheless, the genetic basis underlying these nutritional quality traits during grain filling remains poorly understood. In this study, the concentrations of protein, oil, and starch were studied in 204 recombinant inbred lines resulting from a cross between DH1M and T877 at four different stages post-pollination. All the traits exhibited considerable phenotypic variation. During the grain-filling stage, the levels of protein and starch content generally increased, whereas oil content decreased, with significant changes observed between… More >