BBCH-scale (cereals)

In biology, the BBCH-scale for cereals describes the phenological development of cereals using the BBCH-scale.

The phenological growth stages and BBCH-identification keys of cereals are:

Growth stage	Code	Description
0: Germination	00	Dry seed (caryopsis)
	01	Beginning of seed imbibition
	03	Seed imbibition complete
	05	Radicle emerged from caryopsis
	06	Radicle elongated, root hairs and/or side roots visible
	07	Coleoptile emerged from caryopsis
	09	Emergence: coleoptile penetrates soil surface (cracking stage)
1: Leaf development1, 2	10	First leaf through coleoptile
	11	First leaf unfolded
	12	2 leaves unfolded
	13	3 leaves unfolded
	1 .	Stages continuous till . . .
	19	9 or more leaves unfolded
2: Tillering3	20	No tillers
	21	Beginning of tillering: first tiller detectable
	22	2 tillers detectable
	23	3 tillers detectable
	2 .	Stages continuous till . . .
	29	End of tillering. Maximum no. of tillers detectable
3: Stem elongation	30	Beginning of stem elongation: pseudostem and tillers erect, first internode begins to elongate, top of inflorescence at least 1 cm above tillering node
	31	First node at least 1 cm above tillering node
	32	Node 2 at least 2 cm above node 1
	33	Node 3 at least 2 cm above node 2
	3 .	Stages continuous till . . .
	37	Flag leaf just visible, still rolled
	39	Flag leaf stage: flag leaf fully unrolled, ligule just visible
4: Booting	41	Early boot stage: flag leaf sheath extending
	43	Mid boot stage: flag leaf sheath just visibly swollen
	45	Late boot stage: flag leaf sheath swollen
	47	Flag leaf sheath opening
	49	First awns visible (in awned forms only)
5: Inflorescence emergence, heading	51	Beginning of heading: tip of inflorescence emerged from sheath, first spikelet just visible
	52	20% of inflorescence emerged
	53	30% of inflorescence emerged
	54	40% of inflorescence emerged
	55	Middle of heading: half of inflorescence emerged
	56	60% of inflorescence emerged
	57	70% of inflorescence emerged
	58	80% of inflorescence emerged
	59	End of heading: inflorescence fully emerged
6: Flowering, anthesis	61	Beginning of flowering: first anthers visible
	65	Full flowering: 50% of anthers mature
	69	End of flowering: all spikelets have completed flowering but some dehydrated anthers may remain
7: Development of fruit	71	Watery ripe: first grains have reached half their final size
	73	Early milk
	75	Medium milk: grain content milky, grains reached final size, still green
	77	Late milk
8: Ripening	83	Early dough
	85	Soft dough: grain content soft but dry. Fingernail impression not held
	87	Hard dough: grain content solid. Fingernail impression held
	89	Fully ripe: grain hard, difficult to divide with thumbnail
9: Senescence	92	Over-ripe: grain very hard, cannot be dented by thumbnail
	93	Grains loosening in day-time
	97	Plant dead and collapsing
	99	Harvested product

1 A leaf is unfolded when its ligule is visible or the tip of the next leaf is visible
2 Tillering or stem elongation may occur earlier than stage 13; in this case continue
with stages 21 3 If stem elongation begins before the end of tillering continue with stage 30

References

Lancashire, P.D.; H. Bleiholder; P. Langeluddecke; R. Stauss; T. van den Boom; E. Weber; A. Witzen-Berger (1991). "A uniform decimal code for growth stages of crops and weeds". Ann. Appl. Biol. 119 (3): 561–601. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.1991.tb04895.x.

Witzenberger, A.; H. Hack; T. van den Boom (1989). "Erläuterungen zum BBCH-Dezimal-Code für die Entwicklungsstadien des Getreides - mit Abbildungen". Gesunde Pflanzen. 41: 384–388.