Assessment of seed quality in local maize varieties through volatile organic compounds profiling

The economic relevance of agricultural production has grown significantly in recent decades, driven by advances in cultivation practices and agrotechnology. Crops now contribute over $5 trillion globally - not only through direct human consumption but also as feed and raw material for industrial use. Meeting the demands of the world population under the pressure of climate change requires more efficient, sustainable production systems. Seed quality plays a pivotal role in this process, as it influences crop yield, uniformity, and resilience from the very first stage. This study investigates whether morphological traits, germination performance, and volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles can be used jointly to evaluate seed quality in maize. The aim of the work is to identify potential predictors of seed quality that could contribute to the development of a rapid, integrative model for seed quality assessment. Nineteen maize varieties were analyzed; germination performance was assessed under physiological conditions over two weeks, while VOC profiles were obtained using the Proton Transfer Reaction - Time of Flight - Mass Spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) technique. A range of R packages was employed to statistically explore correlations between morphological and physiological features and germination metrics. By combining phenotypic and chemical profiling, this approach lays the groundwork for predictive tools to support high-throughput seed selection, ultimately contributing to improved crop performance and agricultural sustainability. The results indicate that the analyzed seed samples can be clustered into three distinct groups reflecting seed quality, based on their morphological, physiological, and VOC profiles. This work is part of the project NODES which has received funding from the MUR – M4C2 1.5 of PNRR funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU (Grant agreement no. ECS00000036).