The symptoms of WSMV in wheat appear as pale
green streaking on leaves (Figure 1a), yellowing of the
older leaves (especially towards their tips) (Figure 1b)
and stunted, tufted plant growth (Figure 1c). Affected
plants become stunted relative to healthy plants when
they are infected at an early growth stage (pre-tillering)
but this stunting symptom is much less obvious with
later infection. Heads on early infected, stunted plants
are either sterile and contain no seed, or contain small
shrivelled grain. Except for volunteer oats, no symptoms
have been seen in Western Australia on WSMV-infected
alternative hosts (grasses and barley).