Dynamic behaviour of inflorescence-bearing Triticale and Triticum stems

The mechanical response of cereal plant shoots to loads caused by wind and gravity in the field is swaying in flexure around the vertical or near vertical transient equilibrium position determined by the stationary component of the wind pressure. The aim of this work was to characterise the kinematic and dynamic attributes and their interrelations in freely swaying inflorescence-bearing stems of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Triticale. The fundamental natural frequency of the stems appeared to be considerably lower than predicted from the theory of vibration using the model of a cantilever beam oscillator and assuming the spring constant to be equal to the force-deflection ratio. Because of the rate of deformation and visco-elastic behaviour of the plant material, a discrepancy of about 10% was found between the dynamic and static stem bending resistance. The presence of the tip inflorescence caused vibrating vertical stems to behave as compressed columns in which the effective spring constant was strongly biased by the apical load due to the weight of the inflorescence. At the late milk stage, in the freely swaying stems of wheat and Triticale, the resistance to dynamic lateral loads was reduced by about 30% as a result of compression exerted by the inflorescence. So the prominent effect of the tip inflorescence on the dynamic behaviour (the effective spring constant and the natural frequency) of the stem is attributed to the non-negligible magnitude of the inflorescence weight relative to the critical load producing elastic buckling in slender vertical structures. Stem softening as a consequence of increasing inflorescence weight is assumed to be one of the essential factors reducing the lodging resistance in cereal crops at the late milk stage. The feasibility of the compressed-column approach for predicting the dynamic bending performance of slender vertical plant organs is discussed. Received: 4 March 1998 / Accepted: 20 July 1998