Progress, Challenges, and Strategies in Lodging Resistance Research of Gramineous Crops

Gramineous crops are the core crops for China's food security and stable agricultural production. However, the problem of lodging has long seriously restricted their high and stable yields as well as quality improvement. This article systematically reviews the main types, influencing factors, evaluation methods, genetic basis and improvement strategies of lodging in gramineous crops, and looks forward to the future research directions. Research shows that crop lodging is mainly divided into stem lodging and root lodging. Its occurrence is regulated in a coordinated manner by internal factors such as plant morphology and structure, stem mechanical properties and cell wall components, as well as external conditions such as natural environment and cultivation management. In terms of lodging assessment, methods such as field observation, model evaluation, and high-throughput remote sensing each have their own advantages and are suitable for different research and application scenarios. Important genes related to plant height, stem strength and plant type have been identified in several gramineous crops, providing a theoretical basis for genetic analysis and molecular improvement. Lodging-resistant breeding is shifting from traditional hybrid breeding and marker-assisted selection toward molecular design and gene-editing breeding, as well as genomic selection-assisted breeding.This paper further summarizes the current challenges of lodging resistance breeding and potential strategies for the improvement in gramineous crops: 1) Construct a field anti-lodging capacity prediction model based on small samples; 2) Analyze the common basis of lodging resistance traits in grasses and explore differentiated improvement strategies; 3) Construct precise molecular design breeding targeting key genes and cis-regulatory elements; 4) Establish a cultivation model that matches “variety-region-technology”, with the aim of providing theoretical basis and practical reference for the basic research and production practice of lodging resistance.