Wheat Blast:
Researchers who have modeled for the first time how wheat blast will spread in the future found the fungal disease could reduce global wheat production by 13% until 2050.
- Wheat blast, caused by the plant fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is a fast-acting, severe disease of wheat that causes bleaching of the heads.
- Magnaporthe oryzae can infect many grasses, including barley, lolium, rice, and wheat, but specific isolates of this pathogen generally infect limited species; that is, wheat isolates infect preferably wheat plants but can use several more cereal and grass species as alternate hosts.
- It spreads through infected seeds, crop residues, and spores that can travel long distances in the air.
- It thrives in warm and humid conditions, making regions with such climates particularly susceptible.
- The pathogen is also resistant to fungicides.
- The seriousness of the disease is indicated by the fact that crops are burned to avoid this disease.
- It causes progressive bleaching of the heads, lower yields, and poor seed quality.
- Stems and leaves are discoloured, with dark brown, eye-shaped lesions on leaves.
- Sometimes dark grey spores can be seen.
- It can shrivel and deform the grain in less than a week from the first symptoms.
