Predicting wheat lodging at large scales

The motion of a series of idealised wheat plants in the time domain subject to the application of a wind induced force was examined. A stochastic process representing the wind loading at different points over an imaginary field of wheat was generated. The plants were then modelled as damped harmonic oscillators and the wind induced response compared to the resistance offered by the root/soil and the plant stem. A comparison with a previous, approximate method was also undertaken and a simple way to transform the approximate solutions to the full solution outlined in the current work was provided. The computational method provides an alternative approach enabling plant failure over large populations to be predicted.

► The prediction of lodging can help to improve current agricultural practices.
► We model plants as single oscillators with mechanical and aerodynamic properties.
► A curve relating samples of wheat plants to percentage of failure is established.
► A comparison with a previous, approximate method is undertaken.
► Our model enables the plant's failure over large populations to be predicted.