Fusarium stalk rot, which is a common disease caused by Fusarium species, can seriously decrease maize grain yield and quality. Hence, the genetic mechanism mediating maize resistance to Fusarium stalk rot must be elucidated and the associated resistance genes useful for breeding disease-resistant cultivars should be identified. In this study, the highly resistant maize inbred line H1710 and highly susceptible inbred line Huangzaosi were used to construct segregating populations through hybridization, backcrossing, and other methods. A resistance/susceptibility pool was constructed from the F₂ population. A BSA-seq analysis revealed one candidate region associated with stalk rot resistance on chromosome 6; this region (3.98 Mb) contains 38 genes. Furthermore, KASP molecular markers designed for the candidate region precisely localized two candidate genes, Zm00001eb260120 and Zm00001eb260260, which were considered to be the most likely genes mediating stalk rot resistance. The study findings lay a theoretical foundation for analyzing the molecular basis of maize resistance to Fusarium stalk rot and cloning the relevant resistance genes.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential yield-limiting factor in maize, and identifying genes that improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is critical for sustainable agriculture and environmental protection. However, the genetic basis of NUE in maize remains poorly understood. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a mixed linear model (MLM) controlling for population structure and kinship, based on an association panel of 282 maize inbred lines genotyped via the Maize 50K GBTS array (53,162 SNPs). Ten NUE-related traits (grain yield, hundred-kernel weight, ear length, ear diameter, kernel row number, kernel number per row, SPAD value, ASI, plant height, ear height) were evaluated under two N levels during the 2024–2025 growing seasons. The GWAS analysis detected 122 significant SNPs in gene regions linked to low N tolerance under the studied conditions. Linkage disequilibrium analysis and functional annotation narrowed down 26 candidate genes, whose GO and KEGG enrichment analyses (Fisher’s exact test) identified three core genes (Zm00001d027880, Zm00001d034047, Zm00001d010574). Furthermore, several inbred lines (H1710, 23N272, and 23N41) demonstrating superior low-nitrogen tolerance were identified. The primary subsequent focus in future research for these genetic materials will be their utilization to breed new cultivars with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency.