Investigation into the History, Growth, and Morphology of Short-Statured Maize

<p dir="ltr">Historical efforts to introduce short-statured maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.; SSM) commercially on a wide scale have been unsuccessful. Commercial interest in SSM has returned recently due to their resistance to lodging and easier in-season operations due to reduced height. The study of above- and below-ground growth and morphology, and yield attributes of recent hybrids is important in order to assess their agronomic feasibility. This study investigates recent SSM hybrids, including the reasons behind delayed commercial adoption, differences with tall hybrids, morpho-physiological characteristics, and yield and yield components using high-throughput phenotyping and crop modeling techniques. The experiments were conducted in two controlled environments - greenhouse and a climate-controlled growth chamber in Ag-Alumni Phenotyping Facility. Our results found that SSM was historically limited by poor grain yield due to dwarfing traits negatively disrupting the reproductive organs of the plants which is not a limitation in modern commercial hybrids. The short hybrids still had lower total grain yield per plant and above-ground biomass compared to their tall counterparts but leaf areas, 1000-kernel weight, and harvest indices were similar. Within the growth chamber, effective alternatives to destructive measurements in SSM were found through high-throughput phenotyping (HTP). Overall, our findings suggest SSM has seen considerable improvements to yield and shoot architecture over time, but the absolute yield per plant in SSM is still lower and potential issues with lowered ear height remain.</p>