Significant biophysical and genetic properties of maize inbred lines and hybrids with erect top leaves

Abstract

This study confirms the hypothesis that there are elite maize inbred lines and hybrids with erect top leaves, which have a dominant property of an efficient photosynthetic and fluorescent model that is successfully used in modern breeding programmes and the production hybrid seed and commercial maize. This statement is supported by the displayed results on the erect top leaves, the dynamics of grain dry-down during the maturation period and photosynthetic and florescence parameters: the temperature dependence of the delayed chlorophyll fluorescence intensity, the Arrhenius criterion for the determination of critical temperatures (phase transition temperatures) and the activation energies. The presented results show that properties of observed maize inbreds and their hybrids are based on the nature of conformational and functional changes that occur in their thylakoid membranes and other chemical tissues structures of grain and intact leaves, as well as, on positive effects in maize breeding. Moreover, other relevant significant breeding and seed production properties (commercial maize quality over grain structure, physical and chemical parameters) of maize inbred lines and their hybrids were analyzed in the present study.

Keywords

• Zea mays L.
• inbred
• hybrid
• erect top leaf
• thylakoid membrane
• photo-synthetic and fluorescent model
• delayed chlorophyll fluorescence