Genetic Variation in Photosynthetic Maintenance and Post-Chill Recovery for Early Season Maize Plantings

Photosynthetic maintenance and post-chill recovery in 11 maize inbred lines show genotype-specific, environment-dependent recovery of net CO2 assimilation and {Phi}PSII after five days of chilling.

• Why it matters: Early maize planting is limited by seedling chilling that constrains photosynthesis and development, but the separable physiological traits linked to resilience are not well characterized across environments.
• What they did: The authors measured gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence ({Phi}PSII), chlorophyll status, immature-leaf growth, vegetative stage, biomass, and visible cold injury in controlled spring-like conditions and four early-spring field environments.
• The result: Chilling sharply reduced net CO2 assimilation and rapidly decreased {Phi}PSII, while development was largely arrested but resumed quickly after warming; heritability was moderate to high for multiple traits, and assimilation and {Phi}PSII stayed positively associated during recovery.

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