Response of four winter wheat cultivars to triallate

Summary Genetic variation among four winter wheat cultivars for response to treatment with triallate was examined. The cultivars showed differential tolerance based on stand count, however, differential tolerance was not seen for any of the other traits examined including visual score, and the mature plant traits, tiller count and yield. Significant effects due to increasing the rate of chemical were observed. An increase in yield was seen at the 0.5 and 1.0 kg/ha rates of triallate. This yield increase was paralleled by trends toward increasing seed number/head and tiller number/unit area. The results indicate that the effect of triallate on wheat has two components. The first component, toxicity, is seen on all cultivars, but the extent of damage varies significantly among cultivars. The second component is positive and leads to an increase in yield without interacting significantly with genotype.