Growth and Yield of Crops Treated with Triacontanol1

Abstract

The growth of several vegetable and field crops in the greenhouse was increased by applications of 1-triacontanol to the foliage, soil, or seed. Neither the seed nor soil treatments increased the yield of crops in the field. However, foliar sprays ranging from 5 to 500 mg/ha significantly increased the marketable yield of 7 of 10 crops tested. The average yield increase was based on comparisons of all the different rates and time of 1-triacontanol applications with untreated controls. The response of tomato, carrot and wheat seed treatments with 1-triacontanol was shown to be positively correlated with temperature at time of germination and early growth.