World Wheat Crops Threatened By Stem Rust
13 May 2008 A strain of wheat stem rust disease (Ug99) has spread from Africa to the Middle East, and could reach Asia and the rest of the world in the future, according to an article from the Farm & Ranch Guide.
According to the article, Dr. Jim Peterson, a wheat breeder at Oregon State University, US, and chair of the National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC), warned that Ug99 is a race of stem rust that blocks the vascular tissues in cereal grains including wheat, oats, and barley. Unlike leaf or stripe rusts that may reduce crop yields, Ug99-infected plants may suffer up to 100% loss.
The Ug99 strain has already appeared in Iran, plaing it near the major wheat production areas in Asia, such as Pakistan and India, which account for 20% of the annual world wheat production. Given the right wind conditions, the disease could travel very rapidly.
There was a recent three-day wind event recorded by CIMMYT (the Spanish acronym for International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) that showed strong wind currents moving from Yemen, where Ug99 is present, across Pakistan and India, and going all the way to China. “Luckily there weren’t any rust spores in Yemen at that time – it was off cycle,” Peterson said. “But this raises concern that if things happen in the right sequence, widespread of this disease could happen quickly. And CIMMYT estimates that from two-thirds to three-quarters of the wheat now planted in India and Pakistan are highly susceptible to this new strain of stem rust.”
Peterson also noted that 75% to 80% of wheat breeding material is susceptible to thedisease. “We are running out of resistant genes to deploy in the face of this highly virulent disease,” he said.
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