Response of maize to water stress

Maize plant is a c4 plant having high input requirements including irrigation water. In Pakistan 25-30% of the total cropped area is rainfed where the available water resources are depleting very quickly. Water stress or drought is one of the major limiting fator in crop production around the globe. Water stress affects plant growth both at early stage and at grain filling stage resulting in decreased yield. Fifty inbred lines were used to study genetic variability, correlation and path co-efficient analysis among various seedling and maturity traits. Under drought conditions, 100-grain weight had positively and significantly correlated with root length, shoot length, fresh root weight and number of cobs. Days taken to silking had maximum positive direct effect on 100-garin weight. Number of ears had minimum positive direct effect on 100-grain weight.