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Comparison of Methods for Evaluating Stalk Strength of Sorghum¹

Stalk breakage prior to harvest is a cause of grain loss in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and is deterrent to the use of taller, higher yielding hybrids. Laboratory methods of evaluating stalk strength in sorghum were assessed by comparing them with field stalk breakage for the purpose of developing a procedure useful in breeding programs. For each test method there were significant differences among lines for stalk strength at each of the four positions tested. Stalk strengths at the base of the plant as determined by crushing, penetration, and bending tests were significantly and negatively correlated with total stalk breakage in the field. Strenghts of the peduncle as determined by shearing and bending tests were correlated significantly and negatively with breakage of peduncles in the field. Of the six methods evaluated, penetration of non-dried stalks was the least variable as indicated by coefficients of variability.

Key Words: Lodging • Sorghum • Stalk penetration • Stalk crushing • Stalk shearing

² Geneticist, USDA-ARS, College Station, TX 77843; former graduate student (now in Iraq), Soil and Crop Sciences Dep., Texas A&M Univ.; associate professor, Texas Agric. Exp. Stn., Lubbock, TX 79401, respectively.

Received for publication June 22, 1977.