Studies on Root Growth, Yield and Resilience of Winter Wheat Under Waterlogging Control in Huaibei Plain, China.

Waterlogging frequently occurs in the Huaibei Plain of China, significantly hindering the sustainable development of agriculture. This study aims to investigate the impact of waterlogging stress on winter wheat growth during the seedling stage and evaluate crop resilience after waterlogging. Tritium aestivum L. 'Zhengmai136' was used as experimental material at the Wudaogou Experimental Station in Bengbu City, Anhui Province, China. Variance analysis was employed to test the significance of waterlogging effects on root morphology, in root dehydrogenase activity, plant height, stem height, stem diameter, leaf area, and biomass of Zhengmai136. The resilience of winter wheat was quantitatively evaluated using the entropy method and single-factor elastic index calculation method. Results revealed that although there was a slight increase (12.5%) in the number of winter wheat roots after waterlogging, root activity decreased significantly (61.02%), with inhibition persisting until the harvest stage. Waterlogging primarily affected above-ground indices by causing leaf shrinkage (25.47% decrease) and reducing stem diameter (14.26% decrease), resulting in inhibited tiller numbers (P < 0.01) and an overall downward trend in growth rate. Yield reduction caused by waterlogging during the seedling stage (P < 0.001) was mainly attributed to panicle number and panicle number per plant decline. Regarding resilience assessment, above-ground indices exhibited better resilience than root systems while whole-plant resilience remained at a moderate level. In this experiment, waterlogging during the seedling stage predominantly hindered the growth and development of Zhengmai136 roots; however, timely plowing and effective waterlogged control measures could promote root recovery; at the same time, this experiment could provide a reference for the post-disaster management strategy of the later crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]