Wheat fungal disease

Before harvest, wheat may be infected with a fungal disease (rust) caused by a species of genus Puccinia.

Fungi disperse by releasing microscopic spores that travel in the wind. A wheat stem rust infection begins when a fungal spore lands on the leaf of a wheat plant. The spore germinates and becomes active, and a fungal grows into the plant.

As fungal filaments extend to the plant’s tissues through a stoma, the filaments take up photosynthetic sugars that the plant would normally use to meet its own needs.

Rust infection in wheat plants results in the production of kernels that are usually wrinkled, shrunken and light weight. Thus the yield per acre of a result-infected crop is slower than that of a healthy crop, and often the quality of its flour is reduced.

This problem can be best controlled through use of rust-resistant strains. Worldwide use of rust-resistant wheat provided a respite from outbreaks of wheat stem rust for decades. It should be noted, however, that rusts exist in many different forms and from time to time new rust forms occur to which hitherto resistant wheat strains may be susceptible.
Wheat fungal disease