Maize Cultivation and Improvement

Dear Colleagues,

The development of germplasm is essential for creating cultivars with new traits that differentiate them for competitive advantage in the market or for specific environments, enabling food production in all regions where human life exists. Furthermore, germplasm development needs to align with breeding programs, addressing future gaps in genetic variability required for new regions, emerging biotic and abiotic stresses, or even new biotechnologies that do not allow direct use of elite lineages.

In turn, the genetic improvement of corn with well-defined heterotic groups requires germplasm aligned with the heterosis implemented in the program, ensuring that the introduction of new genetic material maintains the genetic gains achieved in previous cycles. Additionally, identifying new traits within germplasm enables breeding programs to access new genetic variability, which can be incorporated to enhance cultivars for new regions or to increase productivity.

The development of germplasm and corn improvement can yield excellent results by applying and integrating a set of new technologies from both biotechnology and Industry 4.0 (artificial intelligence, visual computing, big data, etc.). These advancements enhance genetic gains through shorter selection cycles and smaller field populations or individuals, thereby reducing long-term costs and operations. High-throughput genotyping and phenotyping have enabled the evaluation of thousands of plants before they reach maturity or even before they are sown.

In this Special Issue, we aim to demonstrate the application of different biotechnologies, omics technologies, phenotyping, and corn breeding techniques that develop corn collection, select new germplasm, and enhance genetic gains and precision in germplasm development, catering to diverse environments and traits where corn cultivation takes place.

Prof. Dr. Glauco Vieira Miranda
Guest Editor

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