Yield and kernel nutritional quality in normal maize and quality protein maize cultivars exposed to ozone.

Background: Tropospheric ozone (O ) is phytotoxic and therefore impacts global food security. In the present study yield responses and kernel quality traits of two maize cultivars [DHM117: normal maize (NM)] and [HQPM1: quality protein maize (QPM)] are investigated. Cultivars were exposed to two doses of elevated O , namely NFC + 15 and NFC + 30 ppb O above ambient level (NFC, non-filtered chambers) while filtered chambers served as control.