Screening of maize genotypes for drought tolerance related trait variability

Plant roots play an important adaptive role in drought prone environments. Although there have been many efforts to improve root traits to develop drought tolerant maize varieties but significant progress has not yet been made mainly due to difficulty in screening root traits. The aim of the study was to develop an easy and reliable screening method for deep root mass and related root/shoot traits of maize in greenhouse and evaluate their association with the grain yield under water-deficit conditions. The present study was conducted in the green house facility at the Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura.