Stem rust ( Puccinia graminis ) is back . The first confirmed case of the disease in 60 or so year was find on a single wheat plant in Suffolk , England , in 2013 . It might not sound like much , but stem rust is a craw disease that has plagued James Leonard Farmer since the prison term of Aristotle with severe crop failure and famine .
“ Resistant straw varieties have not been developed . We hope that our study will serve as an warning signal call to the diligence , that an older enemy may be about to return , ” Dan Bebber , a senior lecturer in biosciences at the University of Exeter , said in astatement .
Stem rust fungus is a fungal contagion that work scaly red – and fateful – pustule on the plant ’s base .
Genetic test stock out by researchers at the University of Exeter and published inNatureshow that the strain in the UK comes from the Digalu race of fungus . This is the same strain blameful for the 2013 outbreaks of root word rusting in Ethiopia and office of Western Europe , including Germany , Sweden , and Denmark .
Most worrying is the fact that more than 80 percent of UK wheat strains are vulnerable to the contagion and change in the climate could be making it more virulent .
One matter to blame for root word rust ’s return is the barberry . The hedge shrub was take down in England when people pop realizing that pale yellow crops close to the plant were more probable to shorten the disease . But barberries have been growing in popularity recently as a result of efforts to protect an endangered species of moth – the barberry carpet moth .
The last confirmed event of stem rusting in the UK was in 1955 but archaeological evidence shows the disease has existedsince 1300 BCEor originally . In ancient Rome , Fannie Farmer sacrificed red animals ( weenie , foxes , and cows ) to the rust god every natural spring to protect their crop from the fungus . Later , stem rusting was bring to the Americas by the early settlers . In the 1950s , North America saw a major epidemic that destroyedup to 40 percentof straw crops .
With wheat and barberry make uproughly 25 percent of the world ’s food for thought supply , expert worry a likewise devastating disaster could be on the view .
For now , at least , the disease is likely contained .
“ The find of stem rust fungus in Suffolk has so far been an isolated one - off natural event in 2013 ; however , with global temperature set to rise by another 1 or 2 ° ascorbic acid [ 1.8 - 3.6 ° F ] over the next century , stem rust could exsert its geographic range , ” explained Paul Fenwick , a cereal pathologist at Limagrain UK Ltd and paper carbon monoxide - author .
“ Therefore , there is the potential for stem rust fungus to become an ever - increase scourge across Europe and so research , such as this , will facilitate to support cover for electrical resistance in the future . ”
