Wild type and transgenic maize yields from plants grown in flowerpots.

Maize seeds were sown in flowerpots containing a naturally low-Pi soil (10 mg Pi kg−1 soil) with either no additional KH2PO4 (low phosphate, LP) or mixed with 600 mg KH2PO4 (sufficient phosphate, SP) per kilogram soil. At harvest time, the ear length, number of grain rows and grain number per row of mature ears were recorded. Mature ears were dried and weighed to determine the grain yield per plant. Values are means ± SD (n = 5).*indicates statistically significant differences between transgenic lines and the wild type line under the same conditions at the 0.05 level, using Student's t-test. WT, wild type; L1, L2 and L3, transgenic lines; SP, sufficient phosphate and LP, low phosphate..