Bending Characteristics of Cabbage Plug Seedling due to Its Own Weight with a Large-Deflection Simulation

Bent cabbage seedlings unfit for transplanters and they are often grown in culture. The reason for this bending of the seedlings has not yet been clarified. We focused on the hypocotyl during the seedling stage because the hypocotyl being relatively soft may be bent due to the seedling's own weight. We constructed a bending simulation model, which expresses bending as a function of seedling weight based on the large-deflection curve theory with measurements of morphological and mechanical parameters. Simulation results demonstrated that the cause of seedling bending is the effect of the first true leaf. In the middle of the seedling stage, the hypocotyl showed maximum bending.