Lodging is one of the most significant abiotic stresses affecting winter cereal crops. To remain competitive, plant breeding programs for cereal crops must be fast, precise, and effective in selecting the most promising lines with superior agronomic performance. The activities developed by SIS under Task 4.1.2 aim to identify an effective high-throughput phenotyping method for selecting genotypes of common and durum wheat that are resilient to the effects of lodging.

Climate change is severely impacting agriculture due to prolonged drought stress, increased frequency of heatwaves, and other extreme conditions, such as heavy rainfall events. In particular, winter cereal crops are highly vulnerable to heavy rainfall, which, when combined with strong winds, can cause shoot bending and may lead to stem failure (lodging). Lodging promotes the development of pests and diseases and negatively affects grain yield. The research activity carried out by SIS focused on developing and implementing a high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) platform for field trials to identify and measure lodging in cereal crops (common and durum wheat). Lodging data were assessed over two consecutive crop seasons using visual scoring, as described in standard protocols, as well as by drones equipped with RGB cameras. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis to determine the accuracy of high-throughput phenotyping in lodging quantification and, consequently, its potential for identifying genotypes resilient to lodging. The analysis of data obtained during the first year of activities indicated that the implementation of our HTP model still requires improvements to effectively identify and quantify lodging in cereal crops. The analysis of results following the modifications made during the second crop season will be crucial in assessing the efficiency of the SIS HTP phenotyping model.

Smart phenotyping platforms for the on-farm selection of resilient varieties and rootstocks

Identification and validation of a high-throughput phenotyping method to accurately identify and quantify lodging in common and durum wheat.