Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments

It is generally agreed that the two largest causes of maize yield loss in the tropics and subtropics are drought and inadequate fertility, and, for this reason, breeding for tolerance to these stresses has become a major focus of CIMMYT's Maize Program. There is also evidence (E. Knapp, unpublished...

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Autores principales: Edmeades, Gregory O., Bänziger, Marianne, Ribaut, Jean-Marcel
Formato: Capítulo de libro
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: CRP Press 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/170230
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author Edmeades, Gregory O.
Bänziger, Marianne
Ribaut, Jean-Marcel
author_browse Bänziger, Marianne
Edmeades, Gregory O.
Ribaut, Jean-Marcel
author_facet Edmeades, Gregory O.
Bänziger, Marianne
Ribaut, Jean-Marcel
author_sort Edmeades, Gregory O.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description It is generally agreed that the two largest causes of maize yield loss in the tropics and subtropics are drought and inadequate fertility, and, for this reason, breeding for tolerance to these stresses has become a major focus of CIMMYT's Maize Program. There is also evidence (E. Knapp, unpublished data; Reeder, 1997) that maize yields in major temperate production areas, such as the central Corn Belt of the United States, even though they have risen substantially in the past fifty years, have shown much greater fluctuations from year to year in the last thirty years. This is attributed mainly to seasonal variation in rainfall, since soil fertility levels have been rising and weed control is generally excellent. Losses to drought alone in the tropics may total 24 million tonnes (t) per year, or around 17 percent of well-watered production (Edmeades, Bolaños, and Lafitte, 1992), but have been as high as 60 percent in severely affected regions such as southern Africa in 1991 to 1992. Severe losses such as these can be expected to lead to a close association between seasonal rainfall and national or regional average maize yields, and this has been observed in eastern and southern Africa (Edmeades, Bänziger, Chapman, Ribaut, and Bolaños, 1997). This suggests that drought is a pervasive cause of yield instability in maize-based cropping systems in most years and environments. Within a particular field, localized yield losses can reach 100 percent where rainfall falls below 350 to 500 millimeters (mm) in the crop season, or where there are patches of soil that are sandy or shallow, provided the period of severe water deficit coincides with flowering. Eyherabide and colleagues (1997), in a simulation study of major maize-producing areas of Argentina, noted that in the region where yields are the highest, there is a 50 percent probability of at least a 50 mm deficit in water during the flowering period. They concluded that the average annual yield loss caused by drought in Argentina equaled 1.2 million tons of grain, or about 15 percent of annual production.
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spelling CGSpace1702302025-01-28T14:44:40Z Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments Edmeades, Gregory O. Bänziger, Marianne Ribaut, Jean-Marcel maize drought cropping systems yield losses It is generally agreed that the two largest causes of maize yield loss in the tropics and subtropics are drought and inadequate fertility, and, for this reason, breeding for tolerance to these stresses has become a major focus of CIMMYT's Maize Program. There is also evidence (E. Knapp, unpublished data; Reeder, 1997) that maize yields in major temperate production areas, such as the central Corn Belt of the United States, even though they have risen substantially in the past fifty years, have shown much greater fluctuations from year to year in the last thirty years. This is attributed mainly to seasonal variation in rainfall, since soil fertility levels have been rising and weed control is generally excellent. Losses to drought alone in the tropics may total 24 million tonnes (t) per year, or around 17 percent of well-watered production (Edmeades, Bolaños, and Lafitte, 1992), but have been as high as 60 percent in severely affected regions such as southern Africa in 1991 to 1992. Severe losses such as these can be expected to lead to a close association between seasonal rainfall and national or regional average maize yields, and this has been observed in eastern and southern Africa (Edmeades, Bänziger, Chapman, Ribaut, and Bolaños, 1997). This suggests that drought is a pervasive cause of yield instability in maize-based cropping systems in most years and environments. Within a particular field, localized yield losses can reach 100 percent where rainfall falls below 350 to 500 millimeters (mm) in the crop season, or where there are patches of soil that are sandy or shallow, provided the period of severe water deficit coincides with flowering. Eyherabide and colleagues (1997), in a simulation study of major maize-producing areas of Argentina, noted that in the region where yields are the highest, there is a 50 percent probability of at least a 50 mm deficit in water during the flowering period. They concluded that the average annual yield loss caused by drought in Argentina equaled 1.2 million tons of grain, or about 15 percent of annual production. 2024-01 2025-01-28T14:44:39Z 2025-01-28T14:44:39Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/170230 en Limited Access CRP Press Edmeades, G., Bänziger, M. & Ribaut, J. M. (2024). Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments. In G.A. Slafer, & M.E. Otegui. In United States of America: Physiological Bases for Maize Improvement (pp. 75-111). CRP Press. 10.1201/9781003578499-6
spellingShingle maize
drought
cropping systems
yield losses
Edmeades, Gregory O.
Bänziger, Marianne
Ribaut, Jean-Marcel
Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title_full Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title_fullStr Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title_full_unstemmed Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title_short Chapter 6. Maize improvement for drought-limited environments
title_sort chapter 6 maize improvement for drought limited environments
topic maize
drought
cropping systems
yield losses
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/170230
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