Brassinolide Alleviates Maize Silk Growth Under Water Deficit by Reprogramming Sugar Metabolism and Enhancing Antioxidant Defense.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive-stage drought arrests silk elongation, causing a greater anthesis-silking interval and subsequent kernel loss in maize. Exogenous brassinolide (BR) is known to increase drought tolerance; however, its influence on silk growth under water deficit remains unresolved. Here, we subjected maize to drought before tassel emergence (V13) and then applied foliar BR at concentrations of 0, 0.1, 0.5, or 1 mg mL^-1, with distilled water-sprayed plants serving as controls. Silk elongation under water-deficit stress was partially restored by 0.1 and 0.5 mg mL^-1 BR but suppressed by 1 mg mL^-1, with 0.5 mg mL^-1 increasing silk length by 2.9-fold compared to the stress control, recovering it to 26.5% of the well-watered level. This protection was unde

SUBMITTER: Xu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12787882 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature