Welcome to Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin,

Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (24): 20-29.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2024-0687

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Selection of Salt-tolerant Silage Maize Varieties in Saline-alkali Land of Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation Area

QI Ruchun1(), WANG Jing2,3,4(), ZHANG Jinmei1, LIU Jili2,3,4, SUN Haojie1   

  1. 1 School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021
    2 School of Ecology and Environment, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021
    3 Breeding Base for State Key Lab. of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration in Northwestern China, Yinchuan 750021
    4 Restoration in Northwest China, Ministry of Education, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021
  • Received:2024-11-14 Revised:2025-03-15 Online:2025-08-25 Published:2025-09-05

Abstract:

Soil salinization is a global ecological environment problem, which seriously restricts the sustainable development of agriculture, especially in the Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation area, which significantly affects the yield and quality of maize. This study aimed to analyze the response mechanism of different silage maize varieties under salt stress, and then screen out high yield and good quality varieties with strong salt-tolerance ability. Nine silage maize varieties were used as test materials. The germination test of salt-tolerant seeds in indoor hydroponics and in-situ identification test in the field were carried out. Salt tolerance was evaluated by analyzing the agronomic traits and physiological and biochemical indexes of different varieties using principal component analysis and membership function method. The results showed that 180 mmol/L NaCl treatment could effectively distinguish the differences of salt tolerance among varieties, with an average salt damage index of 42.16% and a coefficient of variation of 51.16%. Correlation analysis showed that dry matter, ear diameter, axis diameter and grain yield could significantly affect the nutritional quality of silage maize, and starch content was positively correlated with grain weight per cob (P<0.05). The cumulative contribution rate of the four principal components extracted by principal component analysis reached 91.483%. It fully reflects the comprehensive salt tolerance of the variety. Of which, ‘Kehe 699’, ‘Yinyu 238’ and ‘Huayi 1204’ had the best salt tolerance, with D-values of 0.607, 0.591 and 0.531, respectively. Among them, the plant height of ‘Kehe 699’ was 325.17 cm, dry matter mass was 290.27 g, and the grain yield reached 9.82 t/hm2, which were significantly higher than the control variety. The comprehensive evaluation showed that the above three varieties had outstanding salt tolerance, biomass accumulation ability and yield potential, and were suitable for planting as whole-plant silage maize varieties in moderate saline-alkali land of the Ningxia Yellow River Irrigation Area.

Key words: silage maize, salt tolerance, yield, nutritional quality, variety selection