Abstract BACKGROUND With the increasing complexity of winter temperature fluctuations and the adoption of new wheat varieties, accurately simulating low‐temperature freezing damage in winter wheat has become a critical challenge because existing crop models exhibit significant limitations. The present study developed new simulation algorithms that incorporate the effects of variety, solar radiation, main stem leaf‐age and low temperature intensity. Key innovations included dividing the cold hardening process into two distinct stages and introducing a light influence factor and a main stem leaf‐age factor to dynamically quantify their impacts on freezing tolerance. RESULTS Sufficient light during the first stage of cold hardening was found to promote an increase of 4.2 °C in the critical freezing tolerance temperature (CFTT) of winter wheat. Furthermore, a 20‐day delay in the sowing period led to a decrease of 1.6 °C in the CFTT. The model effectively simulated CFTT variation under different growth environments and for varieties with different vernalization characteristics, achieving a root mean square error of 0.54 °C during the overwintering period. Although the model performed well in simulating freezing tiller death rates for winter varieties under different low‐temperature levels and freezing days, the simulated values for weak winter varieties were slightly lower than the observed values. CONCLUSION The newly developed model significantly improves the dynamic simulation of freezing tolerance in winter wheat by integrating key physiological and environmental factors. It provides a reliable tool for assessing freezing risks under diverse sowing dates and variety traits, although further refinement is required to enhance accuracy for weak winter varieties. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.
Wu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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