Abstract：

Maize (Zea mays), a cornerstone of global food and feed security, faces increasing demand for lodging-resistant cultivars to support high-density planting. Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are critical agronomic traits governing lodging tolerance. While extreme dwarfing mutants of the Brachytic2 (Br2) gene severely reduce PH, mild mutations in its fifth exon enable moderate PH reduction with minimal yield penalties. Here, we report a precision breeding strategy to generate tailored semi-dwarf maize germplasm via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of Br2.

Key Words: maize;;Brachytic2;;genome editing;;plant height;;lodging resistance