Improvement of Maize and Sorghum Production Under Stress Conditions

Environmental factors and biological agents that tend to cause stress in plants are key factors limiting the cultivation of plants in the world. Studies of climate change in Europe have shown that in the last decade of the twentieth century and the beginning of this century there occurred a steady prolongation of drought periods, increase in temperatures and uneven distribution of rainfall, which were felt in our country too. Stress caused by the climate change is a major limiting factor of maize and sorghum production in the country. The subject of this investigation will be breeding material in the form of lines at different stages of inbreeding and specific populations of maize and sorghum, created by the method of selection indices. These materials will be evaluated for phenotypic characteristics and genetic characterization will be made of their tolerance towards different stress factors. Stability and adaptability of the studied genotypes shall be assessed by appropriate models of the analyses of variance and covariance, regression and multivariate (PCA) analysis. With the intention of mitigating the consequences of certain stress factors, important physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soil and some physiological parameters of plants will be examined, different fertilization methods will be worked out and new technologies and technical systems of cultivation will be developed or optimized.