Southern South American Maize Landraces: A Source of Phenotypic Diversity

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a globally important crop for food, feed, and industrial uses. Modern breeding increasingly targets traits beyond yield, including stress tolerance, nutritional quality, and pest resistance. Progress toward these goals is constrained by the narrow genetic diversity of commercial varieties, a consequence of the repeated use of a limited number of inbred lines. Maize landraces therefore represent valuable reservoirs of genetic and phenotypic diversity. Northern Argentina is one of the southernmost regions of maize landrace cultivation and comprises two main centers of diversity: Northeastern Argentina (NEA; 2000 m.a.s.l.). Despite their potential, phenotypic characterization of these landraces remains limited, particularly for biochemical traits, which, although less visible, play key roles in biomass accumulation, defense against pathogens and herbivores, tolerance to environmental stress, and quality attributes such as flavor. Here, we evaluated 17 phenotypic traits, including morphological traits, biochemical compounds (such as pigments, carbohydrates, and phenolics), and salt stress tolerance, in 19 maize landrace accessions from Northern Argentina. Substantial variation was detected across all traits, both within and among accessions, indicating that each accession harbors a distinct phenotypic profile. While no significant differences were observed between regions, redundancy analysis revealed associations between phenotypic variation and collection-site altitude. These findings highlight the value of Argentine maize landraces as sources of biochemical and stress-related traits and support their conservation and use in breeding programs aimed at broadening the genetic base of cultivated maize.