Abstract
Adventitious root-forming (ARF) ability, at the soil surface, is most important for adaptation of the plant to soil flooding or waterlogging. We evaluated the ARF ability of maize and teosinte seedlings under a waterlogged condition, and analyzed the mode of inheritance of the trait. The ARF ability was evaluated by the visual rating of root formation at the soil surface after exposure to flooding for 2 weeks. The ARF ability showed a wide variation among 43 maize and teosinte lines. In particular, teosinte showed a high ARF ability. The correlation coefficient between replications was 0.749, indicating the significant repeatability of the experiments. Two sets of F2 populations and F3 lines of B64 (low ARF ability) x Zea mays ssp. huehuetenangensis (high ARF ability) and B64 x Na4 (high ARF ability) showed continuous variation for the ARF ability, suggesting that this morphological trait was controlled by multiple genes. Heritabilities estimated from correlation coefficient and regression coefficient between F2 and F3 were 0.357 and 0.139 in the B64 x Z. mays ssp. huehuetenangensis cross and 0.405 and 0.301 in the B64 x Na4 cross, respectively.
