An Engineering Investigation of Stalk Lodging
Additional Funding Sources
Funding for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation Grant #1826715 and by the University of Idaho Office of Undergraduate Research.
Abstract
Corn (maize) is one of the most important crops in the world. It is grown in more locations, and accounts for a larger percentage of the human caloric consumption, than any other food source. Unfortunately, at least 5% and up to 20% of the annual global corn yield is lost each year due to a problem known as lodging (the plant breaking in heavy wind and rain storms). This results in major financial losses each year. The main impediment to addressing this problem is the lack of a quantitative breeding metric for assessing lodging resistance. For the past 10 months, I have been working on an experimental data set to evaluate several breeding metrics for predicting stalk strength and lodging resistance, using engineering methods. This work includes taking geometrical measurements, gathering strength estimations by performing bending tests, and experimenting with other tests which are non-destructive in nature and could more easily be performed rapidly and precisely within a field setting. This research has the potential to end in one or several patented devices which could then be used by breeders to breed for varieties with greater lodging resistance.
An Engineering Investigation of Stalk Lodging
Corn (maize) is one of the most important crops in the world. It is grown in more locations, and accounts for a larger percentage of the human caloric consumption, than any other food source. Unfortunately, at least 5% and up to 20% of the annual global corn yield is lost each year due to a problem known as lodging (the plant breaking in heavy wind and rain storms). This results in major financial losses each year. The main impediment to addressing this problem is the lack of a quantitative breeding metric for assessing lodging resistance. For the past 10 months, I have been working on an experimental data set to evaluate several breeding metrics for predicting stalk strength and lodging resistance, using engineering methods. This work includes taking geometrical measurements, gathering strength estimations by performing bending tests, and experimenting with other tests which are non-destructive in nature and could more easily be performed rapidly and precisely within a field setting. This research has the potential to end in one or several patented devices which could then be used by breeders to breed for varieties with greater lodging resistance.
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