Right-Sizing Stem-Rust Research

Is increased support needed for wheat disease research to avert crop losses from current and future strains? Stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici is a potentially devastating fungal disease that can kill wheat plants and small grain cereals but more typically reduces foliage, root gr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2013-04, Vol.340 (6129), p.147-148
Main Authors: Pardey, P. G., Beddow, J. M., Kriticos, D. J., Hurley, T. M., Park, R. F., Duveiller, E., Sutherst, R. W., Burdon, J. J., Hodson, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Average product
Cereal grains
Cereals
Crop damage
Crop diseases
Crop science
Economic research
Estimates
Field crop farms
Financial investments
Foliage
Fungal diseases
Grains
Investment return rates
Investments
Plant diseases
POLICY FORUM
Rusting
Temperate regions
Wheat
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Is increased support needed for wheat disease research to avert crop losses from current and future strains? Stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici is a potentially devastating fungal disease that can kill wheat plants and small grain cereals but more typically reduces foliage, root growth, and grain yields [e.g., ( 1 , 2 )]. After years of success in keeping the disease at bay, new virulent races (collectively referred to as “Ug99”) have emerged, with the potential to infect much of the world's wheat ( 3 ). Despite, or because of, the success of past research, these programs saw an eventual rundown in support ( 4 ). We estimate global wheat losses over the past 50 years absent investments in research to limit impacts of stem rust and discuss how this can inform decisions about “right-sizing” research investments.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.122970