Cultivar × Management Interaction to Reduce Lodging and Improve Grain Yield of Irrigated Spring Wheat: Optimising Plant Growth Regulator Use, N Application Timing, Row Spacing and Sowing Date

Severe lodging of irrigated spring-wheat in sub-tropical Australia has previously caused yield loss of between 1.7 and 4.6 t ha(–1) (20–60% of potential yield). In response, agronomic management options were assessed for their ability to reduce lodging and increase grain yield, namely plant growth regulators (PGRs), timing of nitrogen (N) application, row spacing and sowing date, in combination with long and short duration cultivars across 15 irrigated environments from 2012 to 2016. Our study identified significant interaction between genotype, environment and agronomic management (G × E × M) for grain yield and lodging, although some combinations of agronomic techniques were broadly applicable across cultivars. PGR application improved grain yield of most cultivars in well-irrigated fields that had more than 120 kg ha(–1) N (mineral N + fertiliser N) at sowing, with yield gains of up to 0.5 t ha(–1) observed in both lodged and non-lodged fields. However, PGRs had little effect on grain yield when soil + fertiliser N at sowing was less than 80 kg ha(–1) N. In-crop N application (compared to sowing N application) often improved grain yield of short duration, lodging resistant cultivars, but reduced the yield of long-duration, lodging susceptible cultivars in some environments. Narrow row spacing of 19 cm had the highest grain yield across cultivars in low lodging environments. At a severely lodged environment, narrow rows were the highest yielding for five out of six cultivars when PGRs were used, but was the highest yielding for only half of the tested cultivars when PGRs were not used. Cultivar × sowing date interaction for grain yield was also associated with the occurrence of lodging. Neither early nor late sowing had a consistent yield benefit across a range of cultivars, as lodging severity varied between sowing date depending on the timing of storm-induced lodging events. Lodging resistant long-duration cultivars had more stable grain yield across environments and increased grain yield in response to early sowing. Further research is needed to determine the optimum management strategy for new cultivars, because farmers do not always choose the most lodging resistant cultivars for reasons of cultivar disease resistance, grain quality and seed availability.