A new method for assessing plant lodging and the impact of management options on lodging in canola crop production

Lodging, defined as the permanent displacement of aboveground parts, is a common problem to cause yield loss, deterioration in seed quality and difficult to harvest in canola (Brassica napus L.) crop production. This study aimed to develop a method for assessing crop lodging, to examine how agronomic practices affected the relationships between root lodging and electrical capacitance traits. Canola plants were more susceptible to root lodging than stem lodging. The electrical measurements were more closely related with anchorage strength (S(p)) than stem bending strength (S(s)). Among the three electrical measurements, the root capacitance (C) displayed the most consistent and significant relationships with S(p) in all three field experiments (R(2) = 0.88–0.56; P ≤ 0.01). This study indicates that the risk of lodging can be reduced by using appropriate management practices and variety selection. Enhancing root S(p) was advocated as a priority over enhancing stem S(s) in cultivar improvement. Electrical measurements, especially of root C, can be considered as a non–invasive technique that could partially replace the intrusive methods used for the in situ assessment of lodging resistance among various agronomic practices or can be applied in breeding programs for selecting genotypes with high yield potentials and strong S(p) values.