Fig. 1.

Maize development determined by the Leaf Collar Method. a Leaf collar structures on the base of maize leaves. b Developmental stages and their respective plant height of maize inbred line B73. c Vegetative developmental stages (V-stages) according to Abendroth et al. (2011) after days of planting. (*) Indicates significant differences relative to the previous developmental stage at P < 0.001. Dots plotted represent outliers of the interquartile range of the individual measurements. Error bars represent SD (n = 5 plants for each V-stage) in at least five independent experiments