High temperature during flowering increasingly reduces maize yield with warming climate. Heat tolerance of maize is however not fully understood in the aspect of flowering characteristics and yield stability, especially in the female flowering patterns. Temperature-controlled greenhouse studies were conducted to test heat tolerances of four inbred lines and five hybrids, including 30/20 and 40/30°C treatments during 15 days bracketing the silking stage. Field studies were conducted to determine yield stabilities of five hybrids at three stations including four field environments. In greenhouse study, fertility rate and kernel number per ear (KN/ear) of nine genotypes reduced from 34.41–83.03% and 162.0–653.7 at 30/20°C to 0.68–23.13% and 0.3–332.5 at 40/30°C, respectively, mainly due to reduced pollen shed weight (PSW), pollen viability (PV) and silking rate (SR) at 40/30°C. Hybrids Chang7-2×Qi319 and Chang7-2×Xian2 showed significantly higher yields and KN/ear at 30/20°C, but only Chang7-2×Qi319 performed better at 40/30°C. In field studies, Chang7-2×Xian2, Xian2×Zheng58, Qi319×Xian2 and Chang7-2×Qi319 were winning hybrids at specific environments. Chang7-2×Xian2 showed the highest yield potential due to the larger ear size and KN/ear but a lower yield stability because of the lower PSW and PV. Chang7-2×Qi319 combined high-yield potential and high-yield stability, which can be explained by large PSW, high PV and SR, and stable flowering pattern at different environments. Female flowering pattern (e.g. silking dynamics) is also a key determinant of high temperature tolerance and yield stability in maize. Hence, maize male and female organs should be equally concerned when achieving high and stable yield under different adverse environments in warming climate.

中文翻译：

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从温室和田间试验中剖析玉米的耐热性和产量稳定性

开花期间的高温随着气候变暖越来越多地降低玉米产量。然而，玉米的耐热性在开花特性和产量稳定性方面尚不完全清楚，特别是在雌性开花模式方面。进行了温控温室研究，以测试四个自交系和五个杂种的耐热性，包括在 15 天的吐丝阶段期间进行 30/20 和 40/30°C 处理。进行了实地研究以确定五个杂交种在三个站点（包括四个田间环境）的产量稳定性。在温室研究中，九个基因型的受精率和每穗粒数 (KN/ear) 从 30/20°C 时的 34.41–83.03% 和 162.0–653.7 降低到 40/30°C 时的 0.68–23.13% 和 0.3–332.5 ，分别主要是由于花粉脱落重量（PSW）减少，花粉活力 (PV) 和吐丝率 (SR) 在 40/30°C。杂交种Chang7-2×Qi319和Chang7-2×Xian2在30/20°C时表现出显着更高的产量和KN/穗，但只有Chang7-2×Qi319在40/30°C时表现更好。在田间研究中，长7-2×仙2、仙2×郑58、奇319×仙2和长7-2×奇319在特定环境下是优胜杂交种。Chang7-2×Xian2由于较大的穗尺寸和KN /穗而显示出最高的产量潜力，但由于较低的PSW和PV而导致产量稳定性较低。Chang7-2×Qi319兼具高产潜力和高产稳定性，这可以通过大PSW、高PV和SR以及不同环境下稳定的开花模式来解释。雌性开花模式（例如吐丝动态）也是玉米耐高温性和产量稳定性的关键决定因素。因此，