John Stapleton
AUSTRALIAN researchers are leading the worldwide campaign against a virulent new form of wheat rust which could potentially destroy up to 70 per cent of the world's wheat harvest and can kill a wheat crop virtually overnight. The strain, known as UG99, originated in Uganda and was discovered in 1999. It spread first to Kenya and then Ethiopia, where it caused significant losses, and appeared in Yemen last year.
The discovery of the disease in Iran only became public earlier this week, raising fears of crop failure around the world.
Wheat rust can be spread thousands of miles by wind and is easily transported on clothes or shoes. The spread to Iran means it is now at the door of major wheat producing areas in Pakistan and India. From there it could easily spread to China and other wheat producing areas, including Australia.
Most wheat varieties grown in Asia are not resistant UG99, meaning the food supplies of more than a billion people are at risk. With world wheat stocks at historic lows, there are already fears food prices could rise in Britain. Scientists met in Syria last week to discuss strategies to prevent its spread.
Unlike other forms of wheat rust, a reddish fungus which attacks the stems of the plant, UG99 can lead to 100 percent crop loss.
Fortunately for Australia, the wheat rust epidemics which devastated the industry in the 1880s and led to the establishments of the NSW and Victorian departments of agriculture has ensured a continuing focus by researchers on breeding rust resistant varieties. There were epidemics during the 1940s and 1950s, but the last major stem rust outbreak in Australia was in 1973.
``Australia, indeed the whole world, is taking UG99 very seriously,'' said Colin Wellings from the University of Sydney, one of the world's leading experts on wheat rust. ``Historically Australia has never given up breeding for rust resistance. The dangerous thing about this particular stem rust is that it is able to cause disease on a resistance gene called Sr31, which was originally derived from cereal rye and now widely found amongst many varieties in the Middle East, Central Asia and the sub-Continent.''
Dr Wellings said recent tests of more than 60 Australian commercial wheat varieties in Kenya showed 40 of them were resistant to UG99.
``Australia is in this fortunate position because we have never dropped the ball on breeding wheat for rust resistance,'' he said. ``The Europeans pay little attention to stem rust and the North Americans do not have a coordinated national approach. It is not as if we should be complacent, but by world standards Australian wheats are standouts in the fight against UG99.''
Dr Wellings' partner at the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program at Cobbitty west of Sydney, Professor Robert Park, is leading a worldwide program to monitor the spread of UG99 funded by the Gates Foundation and auspiced by international wheat research centres in Mexico and Syria.
Chief Executive of the Community Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity Dr Simon McKirdy said Australia's strict quarantine measures for bringing wheat into the country meant the most likely way it could get into the country was on people's clothing, in their hair or on their shoes. ``In terms of bio-security threats to Australia's grain industry this is very high up the list of threats,'' he said. ``We need to remind researchers and farmers that there is a potential for UG99 to enter Australia and to take personal hygiene measures seriously when returning to this country. It is not inevitable it will get here.''
AUSTRALIAN researchers are leading the worldwide campaign against a virulent new form of wheat rust which could potentially destroy up to 70 per cent of the world's wheat harvest and can kill a wheat crop virtually overnight. The strain, known as UG99, originated in Uganda and was discovered in 1999. It spread first to Kenya and then Ethiopia, where it caused significant losses, and appeared in Yemen last year.
The discovery of the disease in Iran only became public earlier this week, raising fears of crop failure around the world.
Wheat rust can be spread thousands of miles by wind and is easily transported on clothes or shoes. The spread to Iran means it is now at the door of major wheat producing areas in Pakistan and India. From there it could easily spread to China and other wheat producing areas, including Australia.
Most wheat varieties grown in Asia are not resistant UG99, meaning the food supplies of more than a billion people are at risk. With world wheat stocks at historic lows, there are already fears food prices could rise in Britain. Scientists met in Syria last week to discuss strategies to prevent its spread.
Unlike other forms of wheat rust, a reddish fungus which attacks the stems of the plant, UG99 can lead to 100 percent crop loss.
Fortunately for Australia, the wheat rust epidemics which devastated the industry in the 1880s and led to the establishments of the NSW and Victorian departments of agriculture has ensured a continuing focus by researchers on breeding rust resistant varieties. There were epidemics during the 1940s and 1950s, but the last major stem rust outbreak in Australia was in 1973.
``Australia, indeed the whole world, is taking UG99 very seriously,'' said Colin Wellings from the University of Sydney, one of the world's leading experts on wheat rust. ``Historically Australia has never given up breeding for rust resistance. The dangerous thing about this particular stem rust is that it is able to cause disease on a resistance gene called Sr31, which was originally derived from cereal rye and now widely found amongst many varieties in the Middle East, Central Asia and the sub-Continent.''
Dr Wellings said recent tests of more than 60 Australian commercial wheat varieties in Kenya showed 40 of them were resistant to UG99.
``Australia is in this fortunate position because we have never dropped the ball on breeding wheat for rust resistance,'' he said. ``The Europeans pay little attention to stem rust and the North Americans do not have a coordinated national approach. It is not as if we should be complacent, but by world standards Australian wheats are standouts in the fight against UG99.''
Dr Wellings' partner at the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program at Cobbitty west of Sydney, Professor Robert Park, is leading a worldwide program to monitor the spread of UG99 funded by the Gates Foundation and auspiced by international wheat research centres in Mexico and Syria.
Chief Executive of the Community Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity Dr Simon McKirdy said Australia's strict quarantine measures for bringing wheat into the country meant the most likely way it could get into the country was on people's clothing, in their hair or on their shoes. ``In terms of bio-security threats to Australia's grain industry this is very high up the list of threats,'' he said. ``We need to remind researchers and farmers that there is a potential for UG99 to enter Australia and to take personal hygiene measures seriously when returning to this country. It is not inevitable it will get here.''
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