The effect of testing rate on biomechanical measurements related to stalk lodging.

Background: Stalk lodging (the premature breaking of plant stalks or stems prior to harvest) is a persistent agricultural problem that causes billions of dollars in lost yield every year. Three-point bending tests, and rind puncture tests are common biomechanical measurements utilized to investigate crops susceptibility to lodging. However, the effect of testing rate on these biomechanical measurements is not well understood.

Biomechanical phenotyping pipeline for stalk lodging resistance in maize.

Stalk lodging (structural failure crops prior to harvest) significantly reduces annual yields of vital grain crops. The lack of standardized, high throughput phenotyping methods capable of quantifying biomechanical plant traits prevents comprehensive understanding of the genetic architecture of stalk lodging resistance. A phenotyping pipeline developed to enable higher throughput biomechanical measurements of plant traits related to stalk lodging is presented.

Cross-sectional geometry predicts failure location in maize stalks.

Background: Stalk lodging (breaking of agricultural plant stalks prior to harvest) is a multi-billion dollar a year problem. Stalk lodging occurs when high winds induce bending moments in the stalk which exceed the bending strength of the plant. Previous biomechanical models of plant stalks have investigated the effect of cross-sectional morphology on stalk lodging resistance (e.