Abstract
• Maize endures drought, waterlogging, and re-drought, showing limited resilience under severe abiotic stress. • Severe stress collapses photosynthesis and growth, threatening maize productivity under climate extremes. • Re-drought causes irreversible damage to maize shoot and root architecture, highlighting structural vulnerabilities. • Oxidative stress surges with increased hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde under re-drought conditions. • Stress-resilient maize genotypes are essential to secure future crop productivity amid escalating climate challenges. Maize ( Zea mays ), a pivotal cereal crop, frequently encounters sequential abiotic stresses—drought, waterlogging, and re-drought—that impose multifaceted and interlinked constraints on its growth and productivity. This study elucidates the specific impacts of these sequential stress events on maize morphology, physiology, and biochemistry, offering critical insights into the crop's adaptive capacities and limitations. Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency. Root systems exhibited marked shallowness and sparsity, substantially restricting water and nutrient uptake. Photosynthetic pigment degradation, particularly of chlorophyll and carotenoids, was acute, accompanied by diminished CO 2 assimilation and elevated leaf temperatures, which likely exacerbated oxidative stress through reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction. Waterlogging stress following drought, although alleviating some drought-induced damage, introduced oxygen deprivation in the rhizosphere, leading to disrupted root respiration, necrosis, and impaired nutrient acquisition. Adaptive responses, such as partial recovery of photosynthetic pigments, improved water balance, and reduced oxidative stress; however, metabolic recovery remained incomplete, with stunted growth and persistent root biomass loss. Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogging imposed the most catastrophic effects, characterized by pervasive leaf necrosis, pronounced shoot and root stunting, and a systemic collapse in biomass accumulation. The re-drought phase was marked by escalated ROS levels, membrane destabilization, and the overwhelming failure of antioxidative defenses, culminating in metabolic dysfunction and structural disintegration. These findings underscore the urgent necessity for targeted breeding strategies to optimize root system architecture, fortify antioxidative defense mechanisms, and enhance osmoprotectant synthesis. Integrative multi-omics approaches and comparative studies across diverse maize genotypes are imperative to unravel the genetic and molecular underpinnings of stress resilience.
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Claims 19
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress significantly reduced leaf area in maize.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress inhibited shoot elongation in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress caused pronounced leaf curling in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress left maize root systems shallow and sparse, restricting water and nutrient uptake.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
e1“Root systems exhibited marked shallowness and sparsity, substantially restricting water and nutrient uptake”
Claim · model-written summary
Under drought, photosynthetic pigment degradation of chlorophyll and carotenoids was acute.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
e2“Photosynthetic pigment degradation, particularly of chlorophyll and carotenoids, was acute”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress diminished CO2 assimilation in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
e3“accompanied by diminished CO 2 assimilation and elevated leaf temperatures”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress elevated maize leaf temperatures.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e0“Drought stress elicited severe morphological alterations, including pronounced leaf curling, significant reductions in leaf area, and inhibited shoot elongation, collectively undermining photosynthetic efficiency”
e3“accompanied by diminished CO 2 assimilation and elevated leaf temperatures”
Claim · model-written summary
Waterlogging after drought alleviated some drought-induced damage but introduced oxygen deprivation.
- Treatment
- Waterlogging stress following droughte4
- Outcome
- drought-induced damagee4
- Direction
- alleviatinge4
- Comparator
- droughte4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e4“Waterlogging stress following drought, although alleviating some drought-induced damage, introduced oxygen deprivation in the rhizosphere”
Claim · model-written summary
Waterlogging following drought disrupted maize root respiration.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e4“Waterlogging stress following drought, although alleviating some drought-induced damage, introduced oxygen deprivation in the rhizosphere”
e5“leading to disrupted root respiration, necrosis, and impaired nutrient acquisition”
Claim · model-written summary
Adaptive responses partially recovered photosynthetic pigments in maize.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e6“Adaptive responses, such as partial recovery of photosynthetic pigments, improved water balance, and reduced oxidative stress”
Claim · model-written summary
Adaptive responses improved water balance in maize.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e6“Adaptive responses, such as partial recovery of photosynthetic pigments, improved water balance, and reduced oxidative stress”
Claim · model-written summary
Adaptive responses reduced oxidative stress in maize.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e6“Adaptive responses, such as partial recovery of photosynthetic pigments, improved water balance, and reduced oxidative stress”
Claim · model-written summary
Re-drought after drought and waterlogging caused the most catastrophic effects, with a systemic collapse in maize biomass accumulation.
- Treatment
- Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogginge7
- Outcome
- biomass accumulatione7
- Direction
- systemic collapse ine7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogging imposed the most catastrophic effects, characterized by pervasive leaf necrosis, pronounced shoot and root stunting, and a systemic collapse in biomass accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
Re-drought stress caused pervasive leaf necrosis in maize.
- Treatment
- Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogginge7
- Outcome
- leaf necrosise7
- Direction
- pervasivee7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogging imposed the most catastrophic effects, characterized by pervasive leaf necrosis, pronounced shoot and root stunting, and a systemic collapse in biomass accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
Re-drought stress caused pronounced shoot and root stunting in maize.
- Treatment
- Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogginge7
- Outcome
- shoot and root stuntinge7
- Direction
- pronouncede7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Re-drought stress followed by pre-drought and waterlogging imposed the most catastrophic effects, characterized by pervasive leaf necrosis, pronounced shoot and root stunting, and a systemic collapse in biomass accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
The re-drought phase escalated ROS levels in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“The re-drought phase was marked by escalated ROS levels, membrane destabilization, and the overwhelming failure of antioxidative defenses”
Claim · model-written summary
Re-drought conditions increased hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Oxidative stress surges with increased hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde under re-drought conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Re-drought caused irreversible damage to maize shoot and root architecture.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Re-drought causes irreversible damage to maize shoot and root architecture”
Claim · model-written summary
Severe stress collapsed photosynthesis and growth in maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Maize morpho-physiological and biochemical responses to sequential drought”
e7“Severe stress collapses photosynthesis and growth”
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