Tolerance of Triticale, wheat and rye to copper deficiency

Abstract

THE aim in producing Triticale was to combine the hardiness and tolerance of low soil fertility of rye with the superior yield and bread-making qualities of wheat¹, but there has been little experimental evidence that triticales carry the desirable characteristics from rye². We present here evidence of the tolerance of triticale to low concentrations of available copper in soil, a condition widely associated with poor sandy soils in Australia³. Such soils may contain enough total copper for tens of thousands of crops but it is relatively unavailable to widely grown cultivars of wheat, oats and barley. In contrast, rye rarely shows a response to copper on these soils^4–7.