Corn Stalk Lodging: A Forensic Engineering Approach Provides Insights into Failure Patterns and Mechanisms

Stalk lodging is essentially a structural failure. It was therefore hypothesized that application of structural and forensic engineering principles would provide novel insights into the problem of late-season stalk lodging of maize (Zea mays L.). This study presents results from a structural engineering failure analysis of corn stalk lodging, involving detailed inspection and measurements of lodged stalks and a multidimensional imaging study to assess stalk architecture based on structural engineering principles. This work involved infield observation of >20 varieties of lodged corn stalk in eight international locations and detailed geometric analysis of four varieties. Analysis of collected data revealed very strong, yet previously unreported, patterns in corn stalk lodging. Corn stalks predominantly fail (break) by creasing, fall in the direction of the minor diameter of the cross section, and break within 4 cm of a node. These failure patterns, across a broad sampling of varieties and environments, suggest a consistent weakness in maize stalk architecture, indicating that a common solution might be identified to strengthen maize stalks. Structural engineering analysis of stalk architecture and morphology revealed that several geometric stress concentrators (features known from engineering theory to increase local stresses) occur in the predominant failure region of corn stalk. Identified stress concentrators include surface irregularities, sharp changes in diameter, and voids occurring in the stalk pith. Each of these stalk features persist across different international locations, environmental conditions, and hybrid varieties. These findings support the use of new selective breeding approaches that focus on stalk morphology and structural engineering analysis of corn stalk architecture to develop lodging resistant varieties of maize. D. Robertson, M. Julias, and D.D. Cook, Dep. of Mechanical Engineering, New York Univ–Abu Dhabi, PO BOX 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; B, Gardunia, and T. Barten, Monsanto Corporation, 1551 Highway 210, Huxley, Iowa. Received: 8 Jan. 2015. Accepted 22 Apr. 2015. *Corresponding author (douglascook@nyu.edu). Abbreviations: CT, computed tomography. Published in Crop Sci. 55:2833–2841 (2015). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2015.01.0010 Freely available online through the author-supported open-access option. © Crop Science Society of America | 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. Published October 19, 2015

[1]  P. J. Olson,et al.  A Study of the Relation of Some Morphological Characters to Lodging in Cereals 1 , 1919 .

[2]  Haixiao Hu,et al.  QTL mapping of stalk bending strength in a recombinant inbred line maize population , 2013, Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

[3]  S. Reid,et al.  Static and dynamic axial crushing of foam-filled sheet metal tubes , 1986 .

[4]  Joseph Edward Shigley,et al.  Mechanical engineering design , 1972 .

[5]  D. Cook,et al.  On measuring the bending strength of septate grass stems. , 2015, American journal of botany.

[6]  R. C. Tennyson,et al.  The effects of unreinforced circular cutouts on the buckling of circular cylindrical shells under axial compression. , 1968 .

[7]  Shien Yang Lee,et al.  Preventing lodging in bioenergy crops: a biomechanical analysis of maize stalks suggests a new approach. , 2015, Journal of experimental botany.

[8]  W. A. Russell,et al.  Response of a Maize Synthetic to Recurrent Selection for Stalk Quality1 , 1984 .

[9]  D. Cook,et al.  An Improved Method for Accurate Phenotyping of Corn Stalk Strength , 2014 .

[10]  Tomasz Wierzbicki,et al.  Bending collapse of thin-walled beams with ultralight filler: numerical simulation and weight optimization , 2002 .

[11]  L. L. Darrah,et al.  Genetic Relationship of Stalk Strength and Ear Height in Maize , 2003, Crop Science.

[12]  M. D. McMullen,et al.  Phenotypic versus marker-assisted selection for stalk strength and second-generation European corn borer resistance in maize , 2003, Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

[13]  L. Brown,et al.  Interval Estimation for a Binomial Proportion , 2001 .

[14]  George J. Simitses,et al.  Buckling and Postbuckling of Imperfect Cylindrical Shells: A Review , 1986 .

[15]  R. Bernardo,et al.  Genomewide Prediction Accuracy within 969 Maize Biparental Populations , 2014 .

[16]  Edward S. Buckler,et al.  The Genetic Architecture of Maize Stalk Strength , 2013, PloS one.

[17]  Michael D. McMullen,et al.  Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis of Stalk Strength in Four Maize Populations , 2003, Crop Science.

[18]  Eric H. Metzler,et al.  Plant Biomechanics : An Engineering Approach to Plant Form and Function , 2017 .

[19]  Christine Fourichon,et al.  Calf-Level Factors Associated with Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia – A Multi-Country Case-Control Study , 2013, PloS one.

[20]  Karl J. Niklas,et al.  Modes of Mechanical Failure of Hollow, Septate Stems , 1998 .

[21]  M. S. Zuber,et al.  Effect of Recurrent Selection for Crushing Strength on Several Stalk Components in Maize 1 , 1980 .

[22]  Bending Behavior of Thin-Walled Cylindrical Tube Filled with Aluminum Alloy Foam , 2004 .