Abstract:

Maize（Zea mays L.）is the most productive grain crop in the world. Sufficient and stable production of maize is of great importance for ensuring worldwide food security. Long-term studies and maize production practice have shown that increasing density tolerance and planting density of maize varieties is crucial for increasing its yield, and breeding an ideal plant architecture is an important way to improve maize density tolerance. Previous reports indicate that more erected leaf angle, lower ear height, fewer tassel branches, and earlier flowering were important components of ideal plant architecture of maize for adapting to high-density planting. Hereby we intend to summarize the research progress in their relationship of four morphological traits with high-density tolerance, their morphological development, and genetic regulation. We also propose several directions for further research on improving density tolerant plant architecture in maize, aiming to provide some useful references for future breeding high-density tolerant maize.

Key words: maize, high-density tolerance, plant architecture, leaf angle, tassel branch number, plant height/ear height, flowering time