Table 1.

Variability of eco-physiological, developmental and yield-related traits measured in a panel of 29 maize hybrids under two N treatments

Trait	Trait abbreviation	Variation (%)
Foliar surface (1 to 8 FDL)	Surf_i	− 9.67
Foliar surface (12 to 14 FDL)	Surf_o	− 9.69
Total foliar surface (FDL)	Surf_tot	− 10.05
Leaf emergence vigour at 10 EqD	EV	− 2.99
Leaf emergence rate (VL)	LER_V	ns
Leaf emergence rate (FDL)	LER_D	ns
Senescence at 40 EqD	Sen40	− 5.99
Senescence at 80 EqD	Sen80	6.27
Ear leaf rank	Rk	ns
Male flowering date	FloM	ns
Female flowering date	FloF	ns
Total nitrogen at 4FDL	QN_4FDL	− 13.45
Total carbon at 4FDL	QC_4FDL	− 8.77
Nitrogen nutrition index at 4FDL	NNI_4FDL	− 4.09
Total nitrogen at flowering	QN_Flo	− 34.72
Total carbon at flowering	QC_Flo	− 8.74
Nitrogen Nutrition Index at flowering	NNI_Flo	− 30.52
Relative growth rate (until 11 VL)	Rgr_Veg	ns
Relative growth rate (until flowering)	Rgr_Flo	ns
Thousand kernel weight	TKW	− 1.87
Kernel number per ear	KN	− 4.42
Total kernel dry weight	KW	− 6.33
Total dry weight at 4FDL	TDW_4FDL	− 9.73
Total dry weight at harvest	TDW	− 8.49
Kernel nitrogen percent	K%N	− 12.95

Variations were calculated using the mean of 3 replicates corresponding to three different blocks. Each replicate is composed of a pool of 8 individual plants. Details of the analysis and statistics are presented in Table S2

ns not significant