Evaluation of wind-induced lodging risk for maize cultivar based on GIS

Lodging in maize causes severe yield loss annually. In this study, a total of 687 growing counties in or near Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China were chosen as study area. First, cultivar lodging resistance was determined based on frequency distribution analysis using the data of national regional trials for maize cultivar in recent 9 years. Then, environment lodging stress was assessed based on probability analysis of extreme wind event in maize vegetative stage using meteorology data in recent 59 years. Last, lodging risk was evaluated combining cultivar lodging resistance with local environment lodging stress. Cultivars NH1101 and Xianyu 335 were taken as examples and the results analyzed with GIS indicated that lodging risk related not only to local environment lodging stress but also to cultivar lodging resistance. It can facilitate the identification of high-risk growing environments so as to reduce the risk and loss of lodging in maize.