Transcriptome Analysis of Weed Competition and Reduced Light Quantity On Corn Growth.

It has been hypothesized that the shading and reduction of light quantity resulting from weed competition are major contributing factors in the reduction of crop yields. The objectives of this study were to differentiate the transcriptomic and pathway effects of weed competition and reduced light quantity on corn growth and yield utilizing microarray technology. Corn was grown in the presence of weeds (canola) or shade (40% total light removal). These stresses were removed at the V4 corn growth stage or remained until the V8 corn growth stage.  At V8, agronomic data and leaf tissue for transcriptome analysis were taken. Harvest data show corn yield was reduced by 20% when stress was removed at V4 and 50% when removed at V8 with no difference between shade or weed stress.  However, transcriptome analysis showed that genes in different pathways were differentially influenced when grown under shade vs weed stress.