Control of Lodging in Intense European Cereal Production

Lodging is a significant risk in intense cereal production and may severely reduce seed yield and quality. Lodging is strongly influenced by cultivar and husbandry factors including sowing date, seed rate, drilling depth and rate of nitrogen application. A number of PGRs are known that reduce stem length, thereby lowering the leverage of the ear and other parts of the shoot. Increased stem stability also results from histological changes caused by such PGRs. Improved root growth induced by some compounds may further improve lodging resistance. Products available on the market are based on inhibitors of gibberellin biosynthesis (chlormequat chloride, mepiquat chloride, trinexapac-ethyl, and prohexadione-Ca) and the ethylene-releasing ethephon. The usage of stem stabilizers is general practice in countries with intense production of wheat, barley, rye, triticale, and oats such as France, Germany and Great Britain with wellabove 70% of the area under treatment. DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTIVITY IN WHEAT AND OTHER CEREALS The production of wheat and other small grains has undergone drastic changes since the introduction of science-based agricultural methods. This development is particularly obvious in West Europe with its maritime climate and other growing conditions, which are relatively favorable for winter wheat. Productivity data are almost continuously available for Germany since 1878 (Fig 1). Starting at yield levels of some 13 decitons per hectare (= 1,300 kg/ha), just above 20 dt/ha were reached prior to World War I and, after a post-war dip, again in the 1930s. However, enormous increases in yield levels could be achieved since the beginning of the 1950s: Within approximately six decades, productivity could almost be quadrupled from 20 to 80 dt/ha. Similar degrees of intensification were reached in countries with similar production conditions such as France and Great Britain. Likewise, seed yield per unit of land could also be raised significantly in other small grain species such as barley, rye, triticale and oats. It must also be noted that such achievements have been a major prerequisite for creating modern and wealthy societies in industrialized countries with limited area available for agriculture. A number of factors have contributed to this success, the main ones being • improved education of farmers • less but larger and more specialized farms • improved mechanization • better soil management • availability of synthetic N-fertilizers (mainly produced after the Haber-Bosch process, which was introduced by BASF in 1913) • continuous introduction of new varieties with improved features • continuous introduction of new and improved fungicides, herbicides and insecticides • introduction of stem stabilizers 1 BASF SE, Agricultural Center, 67114 Limburgerhof, Germany