ABSTRACT
High plant density coupled with high nitrogen and/or irrigation promotes lodging and creates a favorable environment for pest and pathogen development, and thus in addition to quantity, quality of the produce is reduced. The morphological and mechanical measures were used to calculate a safety factor against both stem and root lodging. Lodging resistant cultivars have strong anchorage that can resist the self-weight movements generated by stems while the susceptible cultivars either have weak crown roots having poor anchorage, or generate greater self-weight movements because of their tall stems. Laboratory and theoretical studies, D. L. Easson et al. examined the mechanism of lodging in wheat and developed a mathematical model to predict lodging. The crop, weather, and soil, all affected the incidence and severity of lodging. High crop density causes a significant increase in plant height stand at harvest and kernel yield per hectare, and reduces ear length, number of kernels per row, 1000-kemel weight, and kernel weight per plant.
