Update: Plant Health News (23 Apr 14)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the postharvest pathology of beans, a reduction in the proportion of shade grown coffee and the filamentous fungus that may be effective at controlling sugarcane nematodes. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
The Life Cycle of Wheat Stem Rust
Here’s a video with some great animation of how wheat stem rust spreads, and how highly virulent strains develop. To find out more about wheat rust, visit the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative website.
Breakthrough in Crop Defence Mechanism
New research at Washington State University shows that barley plants are able to recognise stem rust spores (Puccinia graminis) and begin to activate their plant defences within just 5 minutes of the spore touching the leaf surface. This goes against the previously held view that pathogens had to penetrate a plant in order to trigger…
Yellow Rust Adds to Famine Worries
Source: allafrica.com In terms of food security the big story recently is that two regions of southern Somalia are in the midst of a famine. More than 10 million people are currently at risk of starvation with 1.8 million people displaced in East Africa’s worst drought for 60 years. Ethiopia and Kenya are neighbouring food…
Does rust-free rice hold the secret?
All cereals, except rice, are susceptible to rust. Wheat, maize, barley, millet, triticale, and oats all get rust. The spores of rust fungi land on a host plant, germinate, and grow toward a stomatal pore on the leaf surface to initiate infection. Rust infections produce red or yellow pustulating spores that give infected plants a…