Feekes scale
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
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The Feekes scale is a system used by agronomists to identify the growth and development of cereal crops. The Feekes scale is more widely used in the United States[1] than other similar and more descriptive[2][3] scales such as the Zadoks scale or the BBCH scale. The scale was originally described in 1941[4] and, like other scales of crop development, is useful in planning management strategies that incorporate plant growth information for the use of pesticides and fertilizers to avoid damaging the crop and/or maximize crop yield.
| Cereal growth stages using the Feekes scale[4] |
|
|---|---|
| Stage | Description |
| Tillering | |
| 1 | One shoot (number of leaves can be added), first leaf through coleoptile. |
| 2 | Beginning of tillering; main shoot and one tiller. |
| 3 | Tillers formed; leaves often twisted spirally. Main shoot and six tillers. In some varieties of winter wheat, plant may be “creeping,” or prostrate. |
| 4 | Beginning of the erection of the pseudo-stem; leaf sheaths beginning to lengthen. |
| 5 | Pseudo-stem (formed by sheaths of leaves) strongly erected. |
| Stem Extension | |
| 6 | First node of stem visible at base of shoot. |
| 7 | Second node of stem formed; next-to-last leaf just visible. |
| 8 | Flag leaf (last leaf) visible but still rolled up; ear beginning to swell. |
| 9 | Ligule of flag leaf just visible. |
| 10 | Sheath of flag leaf completely grown out; ear swollen but not yet visible. |
| Heading | |
| 10.1 | First spikelet of head just visible. |
| 10.2 | One-quarter of heading process completed. |
| 10.3 | Half of heading process completed. |
| 10.4 | Three-quarters of heading process completed. |
| 10.5 | All heads out of sheath. |
| Flowering | |
| 10.51 | Beginning of flowering. |
| 10.52 | Flowering complete to top of head. |
| 10.53 | Flowering completed at base of head. |
| 10.54 | Flowering completed; kernel watery ripe. |
| Ripening | |
| 11.1 | Milky ripe. |
| 11.2 | Mealy ripe; contents of kernel soft but dry. Soft dough. |
| 11.3 | Kernel hard (difficult to divide with thumbnail). |
| 11.4 | Ripe for cutting. Straw dead. |
