Abstract
Billions of dollars’ worth of maize are destroyed across the world every year by high winds, hail, and other natural phenomena. Historically, plant breeders and farmers have been unable to prevent these losses using selective breeding because no reliable method for determining stalk strength was available. Recent innovations have seen several devices and methods created to determine stalk strength, but each has its downsides. One of the more promising methods is the use of puncture tests, which puncture maize stalks with a needle and record the displacement and force of the needle. The data from these tests is then analyzed to extract important information about the stalk geometry. Experiments have shown that this method for determining stalk strength is highly correlated with more direct and destructive methods of stalk strength analysis. However, these tests have only been performed in a lab setting with heavy and expensive equipment. The Stalk Puncture Device (SPuD) is a novel handheld, battery operated, unit capable of performing nearly 100 puncture tests an hour. This device costs a fraction of the price of the standard lab equipment and allows users to test stalks in vivo. Initial tests of the device during validation are promising and show strong correlation with data from lab equipment. Hardware and software improvements were identified during validation that will likely improve these correlations further in the future.