Drought stress, being the inevitable factor that exists in various environments without
recognizing borders and no clear warning thereby hampering plant biomass production …

Over the past century of maize (Zea mays L.) breeding, grain yield progress has been the
result of improvements in several other intrinsic physiological and morphological traits. In …

Combined phenomic and genomic approaches are required to evaluate the margin of
progress of breeding strategies. Here, we analyze 65 years of genetic progress in maize …

Context Quantifying historical changes in maize harvest index (HI), the fraction of above-
ground biomass allocated to grain yield, can enhance our ability to explain grain yield trends …

Demand for water, energy and food is increasing driven by a rising global population,
changing diets, warming climate and economic growth. Wheat-maize double cropping …

Context Leaf area index (LAI) and leaf area distribution within the maize plant are important
traits used to explain and predict light interception and thus crop productivity. Objectives …

In this work, we sought to understand how breeding has affected photosynthesis and to
identify key photosynthetic indices that are important for increasing maize yield in the field …

The potential grain yield of maize increased tremendously from the 1980s to 2010s, as did
the optimal plant density. However, cultivars were always bred in different environments …

Coordination between source and sink is vital for the final maize grain yield planted under
high density. To clarify the source and sink characteristics of high yield potential (22.5 Mg ha …

Understanding the impact of changes in the crop canopy on yield is important in order to
meet future food demands. We designed a field experiment to investigate the relationships …