Efficiency of maize inbred lines (Zea mays L.) in terms of adsorption and consumption of soil phosphorus

After nitrogen, phosphorus is the most important and essential nutrient for plants, and plays the most important role in the process of energy production and transmission. In this sttudy, the efficiency of phosphorus adsorption and consumption in 93 maize inbred lines were assessed based on a potted experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications under phosphorus sufficient (optimum) and deficient conditions. The results of analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant difference among maize lines in terms of shoot dry weight, total phosphorus content and concentration, fertilizer response index, phosphorus adsorption efficiency index, phosphorus consumption efficiency index and calculated phosphorus efficiency index. The fertilizer response index of maize lines varied from 13 to 223.67 g with an average of 70.39 g. The phosphorus adsorption efficiency index in the studied lines ranged from 0.11 to 0.85 and its average was 0.41 mg/kg. The phosphorus consumption efficiency index varied from 1.10 to 4.65 g dry matter per mg phosphorus and its average under sufficient (optimum) and deficient conditions were calculated 0.97 and 1.89 g, respectively. The phosphorus efficiency index ranged from 0.40% to 0.95% with an average of 0.71%. Based on the evaluated indices under soil phosphorus deficiency conditions, the maize lines 1, 9, 10, and 26 are introduced as phosphorus-efficient genotypes and the lines 65, 46, 49 and 79 as phosphorus-inefficient genotypes. The phosphorous-efficient lines introduced in this research can be potentially used to produce phosphorus-efficient maize varieties in the future breeding programs.