Elevating soil water content (SWC) through irrigation was one of the simple mitigation measures to improve crop resilience to heat stress.  The response of leaf function, such as photosynthetic capacity based on chlorophyll fluorescence during the mitigation, has received limited attention, especially in field conditions.  A two-year field experiment with three treatments (control treatment (CK), high-temperature treatment (H), and high-temperature together with elevating SWC treatment (HW)) was carried out during grain filling with two maize hybrids at a typical station in North China Plain.  Averagely, the net photosynthetic rate (P_n) was improved by 20%, and the canopy temperature decreased by 1–3°C in HW compared with in H in both years.  Furthermore, the higher SWC in HW significantly improved the actual photosynthetic rate (Phi2), linear electron flow (LEF), variable fluorescence (F_v), and the maximal potential quantum efficiency (F_v/F_m) for both hybrids.  Meanwhile, different responses in chlorophyll fluorescence between hybrids were also observed.  The higher SWC in HW significantly improved thylakoid proton conductivity (gH⁺) and the maximal fluorescence (F_m) for the hybrid ZD958.  For the hybrid XY335, the proton conductivity of chloroplast ATP synthase (vH⁺) and the minimal fluorescence (F_o) was increased by the SWC.  The structural equation model (SEM) further showed that SWC had significantly positive relationships with P_n, LEF, and F_v/F_m.  The elevating SWC alleviated heat stress with the delayed leaf senescence to prolong the effective period of photosynthesis and enhanced leaf photosynthetic capacity by improving Phi2, LEF, F_v, and F_v/F_m.  This research demonstrates that elevating SWC through enhancing leaf photosynthesis during grain filling would be an important mitigation strategy for adapting to the warming climate in maize production.

Starch is the most important component in endosperm of sorghum grain.  Usually, two types of starch are present: amylose (AM) and amylopectin (AP).  The levels of AM and AP contents play a significant role in the appearance, structure, and quality of sorghum grains and in marketing applications.  In the present study, a panel of 634 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) accessions were evaluated for starch, AM, and AP contents of grain, which included a mini core collection of 242 accessions from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, and 252 landraces and 140 cultivars from China.  The average starch content was 67.64% and the average AM and AP contents were 20.19 and 79.81%, respectively.  We developed a total of 260 000 high-confidence single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in the panel of 634 accessions of S. bicolor using specific locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq).  We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of starch, AM, and AM/AP of grain and SNP markers based on a mixed linear model (MLM).  In total, 70 significant association signals were detected for starch, AM, and AM/AP ratio of grain with P<4.452×10^–7, of which 10 SNPs were identified with significant starch, 51 SNPs were associated with AM, and nine SNPs were associated with the AM/AP ratio.  The Gene Ontology (GO) analysis identified 12 candidate genes at five QTLs associated with starch metabolism within the 200-kb intervals, located on chromosomes 1, 5, 6, and 9.  Of these genes, Sobic.006G036500.1 encodes peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans-isomerase CYP38 responsible for hexose monophosphate shunt (HMS) and Sobic.009G071800 encodes 6-phospho-fructokinase (PFK), which is involved in the embden-meyerhof pathway (EMP).  Kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) markers were developed to validate the GWAS results.  The C allele is correlated with a high starch content, while the T allele is linked with a low level of starch content, and provides reliable haplotypes for MAS in sorghum quality improvement.