Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the world's most widely grown crop, which is of worldwide importance as a food, feed and as a source of diverse industrially important products. In the face of the challenges presented by global environmental change and the rapidly growing human population, methods to exploit the high production and high quality potential of maize with reduced input are urgently needed. Since the functional analysis of maize genome has entered into a high-throughput stage, large scale and high density genotyping and genome-wide selection are two important components of maize breeding procedures. In this article, we discuss the enormous genetic diversity during different growth stages in maize; review the development processes of technologies through genotyping and phenotyping methods in understanding and manipulation of the genetic, physiological and molecular traits of maize. We also note the future genetic studies of maize in conjunction with genomics and precision phenotype and phenomics will lead to an accelerated rate of genetic gain in crop improvement.