Fig. 1

Developmental response of maize to restricted water supply. a Growth phenotypes of maize hybrid Severo grown on vermiculite as described in materials in presence (black) or absence (white) of continuous water supply for up to 12 days (Scale bar = 8 cm). b, d, e Relative water content (b), dry weight (d, e) of leaves (a) and roots (b, e) from plants shown in a. c Stomata of control and drought-stressed maize leaves at indicated time points. Arrows indicate the pore. Scale bar = 20 μm. f Root-to-shoot ratio determined from data shown in d and e. Data are means ± SD of eight individual replicates. Asterisks indicates statistical differences as determined by the unpaired t-test (*, 0.05 ≥ p > 0.01; **, 0.01 ≥ p > 0.001; ***, p ≤ 0.001)