Mohammad Abd Elgawad Emam Assistant Lecturer, Agronomy Department,Faculty Of Agriculture

Studies on breeding of some maize (Zea Mays, L) inbred lines and their crosses under salinity conditions

INTRODUCTION The rapid increase in the world population demands an expansion of crop areas to raise food production. Salinity is a worldwide problem, with more than 6% of the world’s total land mass affected by salinity (FAO,2010). Therefore, More work are needed to improve the productivity per unit area.

The use of crops that have some degree of salt tolerance can also be a possibility to overcome the problems caused by salinity. So, screening of large number of genotypes of a crop is necessary to identify the salt tolerant germplasm for breeding programs to develop the salt tolerant and high yielding crop varieties.

Selection by molecular markers The applications of molecular markers, have been used to screen DNA sequence variation and among the crop species. Through this Possible technique applying fast selection between different genotypes and create new sources of genetic variation by introducing new and favorable traits from landraces and related crop species.

The objectives of this work selection among different genotypes under salinity conditions create new sources of genetic variation by introducing tolerant salt traits from landraces and related crop species into commercial varieties

Selection by molecular markers between genotypes Selection by molecular markers between genotypes Identify the gene responsible for salt tolerance Gene transfer from landraces and related crop species to Commercial varieties

Application of infrared thermal imagery to select tolerant Maize genotypes. Traditional methods of measuring Maize growth have been time-long. Thermal infrared imaging (IR) is now an established technology for the study of stomatal responses and for phenotyping the stomatal behavior under different environmental stresses. This approach can rapidly measure canopy temperature (by different color on a camera screen) over large areas and rapid and reliable method for monitoring of whole plant response to water stress. Traditional methods of measuring Maize growth have been time-long. Thermal infrared imaging (IR) is now an established technology for the study of stomatal responses and for phenotyping the stomatal behavior under different environmental stresses. This approach can rapidly measure canopy temperature (by different color on a camera screen) over large areas and rapid and reliable method for monitoring of whole plant response to water stress.

A visible image together with a corresponding thermal image for canopy temperature of wheat genotypes under salinity stress