Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF FOOD AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT, cilt.7, ss.534-536, 2009 (SCI-Expanded)
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereals in Turkey. Besides many biotic and abiotic factors weeds compete for available nitrogen and light which ultimately affects grain yield, increase harvest, storage, transportation cost and grain quality. The objective of the research was to compare wheat and wheat competitive weeds for germination, emergence and seedling growth under saline conditions. Thus, two naturally occurring weeds (Cephalaria syriaca L. and Carduus nutans L.) in salinity affected wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields of Central Anatolia, Turkey, were evaluated for germination behavior, emergence and seedling growth under varying salinity conditions. The commonly grown wheat cultivar Bezostaja 1 and seeds of Cephataria syriaca L. and Carduus nutans L. were used as experimental material. Salinity levels were adjusted to 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS m(-1) using NaCl. The results revealed that increased salinity levels generally resulted in decrease in all traits but time to germination, emergence and seedling dry weight increased at higher salinity levels. Of the three species, wheat had the highest germination percentage, shoot and root length and seedling dry weight. Generally, wheat seedlings grew faster compared to both weeds at all NaCl levels, suggesting that NaCl inhibits weeds growth under saline conditions. If the wheat is cultivated on saline soils, the weed control treatment should be delayed until the weeds emerge.