AJCS 6(12):1703-1711 (2012)

ISSN:1835-2707

Pre-germination anaerobic stress tolerance in tropical maize (Zea mays L.) Pervez H. Zaidi*, Zerka Rashid, M.T. Vinayan and T. Anil Babu International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Asia Regional Maize Program, ICRISAT Campus, Patancheru 502 324, Hyderabad, India *Corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract Pre-germination anaerobic stress caused by temporary soil water-logging at the planting and seedling establishment stage is an important constraint for maize (Zea mays L.) production in the tropics, especially in South and Southeast Asia. Whilst it is commonly accepted that the occurrence of excessive soil moisture following planting adversely affects the establishment and early growth of maize crops, the threshold limit and genotypic variability for pre-germination anaerobic stress tolerance in tropical maize germplasm have not been determined. We aimed to identify the threshold limit for pre-germination anaerobic stress tolerance and available genotypic variability in tropical maize for this stress. A set of 100 elite maize inbred lines selected from a wide genetic background were exposed to different durations of pre-germination anaerobic stress (12, 36, 72, 96, and 120 h). Two independent but key traits for crop establishment, germination percentage (> 80%) and delay in coleoptile emergence (