Abstract:

【Objective】 Zea luxurians is a short-day plant, which can’t reproduce in temperate regions. The objective of this study is to induce Zea luxurians flower by changing photoperiod, therefore to eliminate flowering time difference to cross it with elite maize cultivars and to create novel maize germplasm resources. 【Method】Using normal light condition as a control, the effects of different short-day treatments on the development of Zea luxurians were checked, the activity of peroxidases (POD) was measured and POD isoenzyme patterns were characterized. Then, flowering Zea luxurians was successfully crossed with common maize inbred lines. 【Result】The results showed that the critical productive induction stage in Zea luxurians was between 19 d and 26 d at seedling age. The induction rate was higher when the Zea luxurians seedlings were older (from 5 d to 47 d). The optimal day-length for reproductive induction was 9 hours. POD activity had certain correlation with the seedling age, but had no implication on the growth conditions. Four types of POD isoenzymes, i.e. a, b, c and d, were good characteristics for vegetative growth, and the POD isoenzymes of e, f, g featured reproductive growth. Furthermore, the composition of these POD isoenzymes determines whether Zea luxurians. entered into reproductive growth.【Conclusion】 In northern China, the flowering time of Zea luxurians can be synchronized with elite maize cultivars through short-day treatment, thus facilitates the distant hybridization and makes it possible to transfer novel genes into elite inbred lines to create new maize germplasms.

Key words: Zea luxurians, short-day plant, peroxidase isoenzymes