Identification of Aluminum Tolerance in 140 Sweet Corn Inbred Lines

In this study, 140 sweet corn inbred lines selected from South China Agricultural University were treated with 0.4 mmol·L^-1 AlCl₃ solution. The root length, chlorophyll content, plant height, fresh weight and dry weight of maize seedlings were measured and sorted, and the aluminum tolerance was identified, analyzed and evaluated. The clustering analysis results show that the 140 sweet corn inbred lines can be divided into four groups, and the group Ⅲ of inbred lines possessed the highest aluminum tolerance compared with other two groups. The relative value and total value of each index of the 140 sweet corn inbred lines were analyzed. The total ratio of most sweet corn inbred lines was less than 5, and they were more sensitive to aluminum stress, while the total ratio of a few inbred lines was more than 5 which implied they had stronger Al-tolerance under aluminum stress. Among them, the 10 inbred lines with the largest sum of five ratios were K 117, K 77, K 83, K 56, K 91, K 99, K 138, K 86, K 92 and K 94 respectively, indicating that these 10 inbred lines had stronger tolerance to aluminum toxicity, which could provide materials for the subsequent selection of aluminum-tolerant inbred lines and creation of aluminum-resistant maize germplasm.