Abscisic acid and aldehyde oxidase activity in maize ear leaf and grain relative to post-flowering photosynthetic capacity and grain-filling rate under different water/nitrogen treatments

This study investigated changes in leaf abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations and grain ABA concentrations in two maize cultivars and analyzed the following relationships under different water/nitrogen treatments: leaf ABA concentrations and photosynthetic parameters; leaf ABA concentrations and grain ABA concentrations; leaf/grain ABA concentrations and grain-filling parameters; and aldehyde oxidase (AO, EC 1.2.3.1) activities and ABA concentrations. The ear leaf average AO activities and ABA concentrations were lower in the controlled release urea treatments compared with the conventional urea treatments. The average AO activities in the grains were higher in the controlled release urea treatments, and the ABA concentrations were significantly increased at 11-30 DAF. The Pn and ABA concentrations in ear leaves were negatively correlated. And the Gmean were positively correlated with the grain ABA concentrations at 11-30 DAF and negatively correlated with the leaf ABA concentrations at 20 and 40-50 DAF. The grain ABA concentrations and leaf ABA concentrations were positively correlated. Thus, the Gmean were closely related to the AO activities and to the ear leaf and grain ABA concentrations. As compared to other treatments, the subsoiling and controlled release urea treatment promoted the uptake of water and nitrogen by maize, increased the photosynthetic capacity of the ear leaves, increased the grain-filling rate, and improved the movement of photosynthetic assimilates toward the developing grains. In the cultivar Z958, higher ABA concentrations in grains at 11-30 DAF and lower ABA concentrations in ear leaves during the late grain-filling stage, resulted in higher grain-filling rate and increased accumulation of photosynthetic products (relative to the cultivar D3).