St. Paul, Minnesota
May 7, 2007
A new, highly destructive strain
of wheat stem rust is continuing to evolve and has the potential
to devastate wheat production worldwide, say plant pathologists
with The American
Phytopathological Society (APS).
Stem rust of wheat was responsible for massive epidemics on
wheat during the early 20th Century in North America. In the
mid-1950s, wheat breeders developed wheat that had genetic
resistance to the disease, making it all but disappear. Despite
this success, a new, virulent strain of wheat stem rust, Ug99,
evolved in Uganda and has already spread into Kenya, Ethiopia
and Yemen, with the potential to spread into Pakistan, India,
and China, and eventually North America.
“This new race could attack wheat varieties in many countries
and could virtually overcome most of the wheat resistant
varieties around the globe,” said David Marshall, research
leader with the USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC.
According to Marshall, if this new strain were to reach regions
at risk, it could create epidemics more severe than farmers have
encountered in decades and destroy farmers’ harvests in
wheat-producing areas worldwide.
New information on the research being done nationally and
internationally to combat this disease, including with the
Global Rust Initiative, will be addressed during the “Stem
Rust: A Threat to Global Wheat Production” symposium on
August 1 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The symposium will present the
latest on new sources for global resistance to stem rust,
details on how the disease is mutating, and what’s in store for
North America, including information on how the disease affects
wheat grown in the U.S. and Canada.
The symposium will be held during the joint meeting of The
American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the Society of
Nematologists (SON). The meeting will take place July 28 –
August 1, 2007, at the Town and Country Resort and Convention
Center, in San Diego, California.
More information on the meeting is available at
http://meeting.apsnet.org.
The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is a non-profit,
professional scientific organization. The research of the
organization’s 5,000 worldwide members advances the
understanding of the science of plant pathology and its
application to plant health. The Society of Nematologists (SON)
is an international organization formed to advance the science
of nematology in both its fundamental and economic aspects. |
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