Nitrogen Use Efficiency Defined

Calculation of Growing Degree Days and Heat Units

GDD = (Tmax + Tmin)/2 - Tbase

T base is 40F or 4.4C for Winter Wheat

T base is 50F or 10C for Corn (Maize)

How does OSU use "weather data for wheat?"

INSEY = in season estimate of yield = (NDVI / # of days from planting to sensing where GDD > 0)

Why INSEY? Using the number of "days" where growth was possible is more robust for wheat simply because so many "days" from planting (mid October) to sensing (late February through March), do not exceed the average 40F temperature needed to trigger growth.

Cummulative GDD have been used successfully in corn, but do not work well for winter wheat.

www.mesonet.org
"Agriculture"
"Crop"
"Wheat"
"Wheat Growth Day Counter"
.... counts the number of days where the average temperature was above 40F (4.4 C)
.... days where ((Tmin + Tmax)/2 - 40F) > 0

Degree-day Heat Unit Calculator (cummulative from planting to sensing)

Oklahoma: Lower threshold of 40F and upper threshold of 86F
Iowa: Lower threshold of 50F and upper threshold of 86F

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_degree-day

SBNRC Option 2 (Mesonet embedded algorithm)

Estimate of the number of days from planting to sensing where (Tmin + Tmax)/2 - 40F was more than 0, and the estimated Feekes Growth Stage, that exists on a morphological scale.

Regional Wheat Stage / GDD
Feekes Stage *	Min	Max	Average	STDEV
3	56	96	73	9.09
4	67	102	81	9.49
5	74	110	90	9.85
6	92	125	105	10.45
7	87	126	106	10.88

* Note that the GDD values overlap for some of the growth stages listed. Partitioning Feekes growth stage 6 from stage 7 is particularly cumbersome. This is precisely why the GDD scale using repeatable mathematical metrics makes so much sense versus a subjective morphological scale.

Added Mesonet Files

Wheat, Feekes Growth Stages

Feekes Morphological Scale and GDD's for winter wheat

World Nitrogen Use Efficiency for Cereal Production is 33%,
Agronomy Journal 91:357