Author(s)

Aye Nyein Chan^1,2, Shutu Xu^1,2, Dongwei Guo^1,2, Yaqin Shi^1,2, Yanan Li^1,2, Yajun Li^1,2, Jiquan Xue^1,2*

¹College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China.
²Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Maize in Arid Area of Northwest Region, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, China.

Chlorophyll, one of the major chloroplast components for photosynthesis, has a positive relationship with the photosynthetic rate. The chlorophyll content is an important assessment parameter in agronomy and plant biology research. This study was conducted to evaluate the natural variation in the chlorophyll content and to determine the differential response of the chlorophyll concentration to dark treatment in a natural population containing 139 maize inbreds. A five-fold higher chlorophyll concentration was measured in the light compared with the dark. Meanwhile, the wide variation in the chlorophyll concentration showed the differential response of the natural maize population to dark. Finally, we identified some inbreds that were highly sensitive to the dark with more than 70% difference between the light and dark treatment, such as Dan598, Zheng29, Zheng35, DH29, and R08, as well as some inbreds that had lower sensitivity to the dark, with less than 35% difference in the chlorophyll content between the light and dark treatment, such as Chuan48-2, 4F1, 303WX, 9642, and LY042.

Maize, Inbred Lines, Seedlings, Chlorophyll, Dark Treatment

Chan, A. , Xu, S. , Guo, D. , Shi, Y. , Li, Y. , Li, Y. and Xue, J. (2015) Dark Response of Seedlings Evaluated by Chlorophyll Concentration in Maize Natural Population. American Journal of Plant Sciences, 6, 2209-2219. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2015.613223.