Theses and Dissertations Collection

Wheat breeders develop new crop varieties each year with a goal to improve yields and to improve farmer success. Farmer success is threatened by stalk lodging, failure of crop stems due to high winds. Selective breeding can be used to mitigate stalk lodging by introducing varieties with enhanced bending strength characteristics. To aid breeders in identifying structurally robust stalks, a high-throughput device known as SOCEM (Strength of Crops Extrapolation Machine) can be used to identify which genetic varieties of wheat are stalk lodging resistant. Data gathered with the field-deploying SOCEM device was compared to three-point bending test results of wheat stems conducted on a universal testing machine. SOCEM results were also compared to historical reports of actual lodging percentages. In both cases the SOCEM produced accurate assessments of the structural robustness of wheat varieties. A key advantage of the SOCEM is that the data collection is faster and cheaper compared to conducting three-point bending tests or assessing lodging percentages. Data gathered with the SOCEM device could potentially supplant lodging percentage values published in variety trials and yield reports in the future and become the standard by which lodging is assessed. Data from the SOCEM provides increased numerical granularity compared to lodging percentage values and is not directly confounded by uncontrolled weather events.