Research trends in maize breeding: A global perspective from bibliometric and topic modelling approaches

Maize breeding has undergone significant changes over the past two decades, primarily driven by the rapid development of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. Alongside genomic selection, which has already been implemented in commercial breeding programs, highly sophisticated tools for prediction, decision-making, data integration, and interpretation now form the foundation of the modern approach to maize breeding. To understand the impact of latest technologies on maize breeding, we conducted a comprehensive literature analysis by applying Bibliometric science mapping and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). We formulate the following search query to retrieve the publications from the Web of Science Core Collection: ALL: ("artificial intelligence" OR "machine learning" OR "deep learning" OR "neural network" OR "AI" OR "ML "OR "genomic prediction") AND ALL: ("maize" OR "corn") AND ALL: ("breeding" OR "genetic improvement" OR "selection"). After the detailed article selection and data preparation, 480 publications of 1.643 search results were used as the input for the analysis. The overall trend of the advanced maize breeding literature showed that the number of publications increased during the observed time-span (2010-2024) with the annual growth rate of 32.8%. In total, 60 countries are active in the field of advanced maize breeding with the high degree of the international collaboration. The top five countries according to the number of publications were: China, USA, Mexico, Germany and Brazil. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) analysis revealed fifteen topics, indicating three main domains influencing advanced maize breeding; i) genetics and genomics; ii) computer science and machine learning; and iii) phenotyping and sensing. The analysis provides important information regarding the future direction of maize breeding and highlights anticipated developments associated with the integration of novel technological advancements

Organic agriculture in Serbia-share of barley in it

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) (Poaceae family) is the most important type of cereal grown in temperate climate zones worldwide. It was one of the first cultivated grains. The areas under organic plant production are constantly increasing. Organic crop production in Serbia was performed on the area of 23,527 ha. In Serbia, in 2021, compared to other organic crops, organic fruit was produced the most, on 5,615 ha. In organic cereal production, the dominant role belonged to wheat, which was grown on the area of 1,581 ha in 2021. Organic wheat was followed by rye (879 ha) and spelt wheat (492 ha). Barley, with the area of 399 ha, ranked fourth. Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia, the paper analyzed and presented graphically the ten-year barley production in Serbia. Base and chain indices were used. In the 2011-2021 period, areas cultivated with organic barley varied, but not to the extent that could have been expected. The smallest area was recorded in 2014 with only 23 ha, and the largest in 2018 with an area of 445 ha. According to the regional distribution of areas under organic barley production in Serbia in the observed period (2011-2021) the largest areas were located in the Vojvodina region (on average about 260 ha)

Response of grain yield and plant traits to ammonium nitrate fertilization in selected Triticum genotypes

The genus Triticum encompasses a wide genetic diversity, including both ancient and modern wheat species that are important for agriculture and food security. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of ammonium nitrate (AN) fertilization on grain yield, plant height, and spike length across 23 genotypes of Triticum including: spelt (T. spelta), durum (T. durum), einkorn (T. monococcum), emmer (T. dicoccum), compactum (T. compactum), sphaerococcum (T. sphaerococcum), and triticale, under field conditions characterized by low rainfall. The experiment was conducted over two growing seasons (2021–2023) at the Maize Research Institute ―Zemun Polje,‖ Serbia, using a randomized complete block design with two replications. Treatments consisted of a control and fertilization with 150 kg/ha AN applied on March 15. Except for triticale, where yield under AN- fertilized plots was 1% higher, all species showed higher grain yield in control plots compared to AN-fertilized plots, with reductions ranging from 0.32% (durum) to 88.8% (einkorn). This decline is attributed to the dry environmental conditions during the growing seasons, which likely limited water availability and reduced water use efficiency under increased nitrogen supply. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) between treatments were observed for grain yield in spelt and einkorn, as well as plant height in durum and spelt genotypes. Notably, ancient wheat genotypes such as einkorn and emmer showed greater sensitivity to nitrogen fertilization under dry conditions, likely due to their evolutionary adaptation to low-input environments. Spike length differences were not significant across treatments. The ANOVA revealed highly significant main effects of genotype, year, and treatment, as well as their two- and three-way interactions (P < 0.05). The significant Genotype × Treatment interaction confirms that genotypes responded differently to fertilization. Post-hoc Tukey‘s test further grouped genotypes based on yield performance: triticale breeding line ZP 34-15 and durum variety Agaton showed the highest mean yield and were significantly different from the majority of others, while four spelt lines were in the lowest-yield group. These results emphasize the need for integrating genetic diversity with site-specific fertilization strategies to improve wheat productivity and resilience under changing climatic conditions

Antioxidant capacity and bioactive compounds of maize silk from different ZP genotypes for application in health-promoting dietary supplements

Natural plant-based products have recently been growing in popularity in pharmaceutical and functional food industries due to their antioxidant properties. For centuries, maize silk (Stigma maydis) has been utilized in traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of numerous medical conditions. The therapeutic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, diuretic, antidiabetic, and antioxidant properties originate from silk's chemical composition, rich in polyphenols, polysaccharides, protein, fiber, alkaloids, vitamins and minerals. Maize silk of five ZP maize genotypes (ZP 355su, ZP 6119k, ZP 5550, ZP 666 and ZP 6263) harvested at three different maturity stages, i.e., days of silking (DS), was used to identify the most promising raw material for the production of health-promoting dietary supplements. The study focused on investigating the contents of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of maize silk. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated after following ABTS+, DPPH•, IC50, and FRAP methodologies for comparison. The genotype ZP 5550 (15 DS) exhibited the highest antioxidant potential. The most abundant bioactive compounds were free phenolic. Notably, genotype ZP 5550 (DS 15), has a significantly higher concentration of total free phenolics, approximately six time higher then those observed in genotype 6119k (15 DS). The total protein content ranged from 12.02% in genotype ZP 6263 (15 DS) to 19.43% in genotype ZP 6119k (7 DS). The findings of this study may have significant implications for maize breeding initiatives and the identification of the most promising hybrids for the manufacturing of functional foods and nutritional supplements

Predicting adaptation of maize landraces from genebanks by combining DNA-pool genotyping, genomic prediction and genomic offset

Agustin Oscar Galaretto1 , Rosa Ana Malvar3 , Brigitte Gouesnard5 , Carlotta Balconi2 ,Delphine Madur1 ; Rita Redaelli2, Violeta Andjelkovic4 , Pedro Revilla3 , Cyril Bauland1 , Ana Butron3, Torri, Alessio2, Ana Maria Barata6, Natalija Kravic4, Pedro Mendes Moreira7 , Danela Murariu8, Hrvoje Šarčević9, Beate Schierscher Viret10, Morgane Vincent5, Anne Zanetto5, Bettina Kessel11, Tristan Mary-Huard1, André Pereira12, Domnica Daniela Placinta8, Alexandre Strigens13, Sandra Goritschnig14, Alain Charcosset1, Laurence Moreau1, Stéphane Nicolas1 1 Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, CNRS, AgroParisTech, GQE - Gif-sur-Yvette, France 2 CREA- Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Bergamo, Italy 3 Misión Biológica de Galicia Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Pontevedra, Spain; 4 Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje, Belgrade, Serbia; 5 UMR AGAP Institut, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France 6 Banco Português de Germoplasma Vegetal, S.Pedro de Merelim, Braga, Portugal 7 Agriculture School of the Polytechnic University of Coimbra (IPC-ESAC) and CERNAS – Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society Bencanta, Coimbra, Portugal 8 Suceava Genebank, Suceava, Romania 9 University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska Zagreb, Croatia 10 Agroscope, Nyon 1, Schweiz, Switzerland 11 KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, Einbeck, Germany 12 CERNAS – Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society Bencanta, Coimbra, Portugal 13 DSP -Delley Semences et Plantes SA, Delley, Switzerland 14 ECPGR, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Roma, Ital

Sugar and free amino acid contents in winter wheat flour under fusarium head blight treatment and natural infection

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most devastating diseases in wheat. Besides its negative impact on grain yield, FHB also negatively influences quality. Changes in sugar and free amino acid content were analyzed in flour from Fusarium-infected and non-infected grains of six wheat varieties differing in Fusarium resistance. The concentrations of sugars and free amino acids were determined using a high-performance liquid chromatography device. In flour from FHB-infected grains, the average total amount of fructose, glucose, maltose, total sugars, and total reducing sugars was significantly increased, compared to non-treated flour from the Tika Taka variety, which was the most FHB-susceptible. The total content of free amino acids in flour from FHB-infected varieties increased in proportion to their susceptibility. In Tika Taka, there was a significant increase in free amino acid content of about 46%, while a significant decrease of 16% was observed in the highly resistant Vulkan variety. A highly significant correlation was established between the degree of FHB susceptibility and the content of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine and histidine, glycine, alanine, methionine, valine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, leucine, and threonine. Most amino acids had strong positive correlations with each other, but among the sugars, only fructose and glucose content showed a strong positive correlation with specific amino acids that were induced by Fusarium infection. Overall, it can be concluded that FHB-susceptible varieties have a high risk of FHB infection, which results in the hydrolysis of sucrose into fructose and glucose, together with an increase in free amino acids, which deteriorates the quality of wheat

Nitrogen responsiveness of maize hybrids under dryland conditions

Nitrogen (N) plays a decisive role in the growth and yield of crops. Hence, a high maize grain yield depends upon substantial N inputs. In the present study, morphological traits and yield components, grain yield, rain use efficiency (RUE), and N partial factor productivity (NPFP) were analyzed in two maize hybrids (ZP666 and NS6030) for 2 yr using four N rates (0 (N0), 60 (N60), 120 (N120), and 180 (N180) kg N ha−1). In a climatically more favorable year (2022), the studied traits and NPFP were higher, while RUE was lower. Hybrid ZP666 had higher values of morphological traits and yield component traits, except 1000-grain weight, grain yield, RUE, and NPFP, than hybrid NS6030. The highest values for morphological traits, yield components, grain yield (9383 and 9456 kg ha−1), and RUE (27.1 and 27.2 kg ha−1 mm−1) were obtained at 120 and 180 kg N ha−1. The NPFP decreased significantly with increasing N input, from 137.6 (control) to 52.5 kg grain per kg fertilizer N (180 kg N ha−1). A suitable hybrid selection and the application of a moderate N fertilizer rate of 120 kg N ha−1 could contribute to high yields and lower nitrogen losses to the environment and promote sustainable agriculture