Comprehensive Evaluation of Lodging Resistance of 78 Maize Inbred Lines and Screening of Core Indexes

Li Fangjie; Shi Dakun; Wei Xiaoyi; Wei Feng; Liu Junheng; Mei Yongxian

doi:10.15933/j.cnki.1004-3268.2026.07.002

Abstract：To screen out maize germplasm resources with excellent resistance to lodging,78 maize inbred lines were used as the experimental materials.The stem puncture strength,stem crushing strength,and length,short axis diameter,long axis diameter,dry weight,cross-sectional area,dry weight per volume of the aboveground 3rd to 5th internodes were measured continuously for two years from 2024 to 2025.Comprehensive evaluation of lodging resistance of maize inbred lines was conducted using correlation analysis,principal component analysis,membership function analysis,cluster analysis,and multiple linear regression analysis,and core indexes were selected.The results showed that the 20 traits differed significantly or extremely significantly among different maize inbred lines in two years;the average variation coefficients of the 20 traits ranged from 13.53%to 29.51%,indicating that the genetic variation of the traits was rich and had good selection potential.The stem puncture strength and stem crushing strength were extremely significantly positively correlated with short axis diameter,long axis diameter,dry weight,and cross-sectional area of the aboveground 3rd to 5th internodes.Based on principal component analysis,20 indexes were converted into 5 principal components,with cumulative contribution rate of 92.124%;the top five inbred lines bosed on the comprehensive evaluation value of lodging resistance were XinLP269,Z33-1,H7875S,H7235,and Xin 4095.Cluster analysis divided 78 maize inbreds into three categories,category Ⅰ belonged to the lodging-resistant type,including 13 inbred lines,namely Xin 5951,XinLP269,H7235,H7875A,Dan 360,H7898,Xin 4095,Liao 5263,Liao 5262,Qi 319,H7875S,698-3,and Z33-1;category Ⅱ belonged to the intermediate type,including 57 inbred lines;category Ⅲbelonged to the lodging-prone type,including eight inbred lines.A prediction model for lodging resistance was established through stepwise regression analysis(R²=0.996 0,p<0.01),and nine traits,including stem puncture strength,stem crushing strength,length of the aboveground 5th internode,short axis diameter of the aboveground 4th internode,long axis diameter of the aboveground 4th to 5th internodes,and dry weight of the aboveground 3rd to 5th internodes,were selected as the core indexes for identifying maize lodging resistance.