Abstract
Wheat production started in Australia around 1788 using early maturing varieties adapted to Australian conditions that were able to escape diseases as well as moisture stress conditions. Wheat production is concentrated on mainland Australia in a narrow crescent land considered as the wheat belt occupying an area of about 13.9 million hectares. Rusts are the most important production constraints to wheat production in the world and Australia causing significant yield losses and decreased the qualities of grains. Wheat is affected by three different types of rust diseases: leaf rust, stripe rust or yellow rust, and stem rust. Each species of the rust pathogen has many races or pathotypes that parasitize only on certain varieties of host species, which can only be traced and identified by differential cultivars. Pathotype surveillance is the basis for information on the virulence or pathogenic variations existing in a particular country or wheat growing region of the world. Studies in pathotype variation are conducted in controlled environments using multi-pathotype tests. The currently cultivated commercial wheat varieties of Australia possess leaf rust resistant genes: Lr1, Lr3a, Lr13, Lr13+, Lr14a, Lr17a, Lr17b, Lr20, Lr23, Lr24, Lr26, Lr27, Lr31, Lr34, Lr37, and Lr46; stem rust resistance genes: Sr2, Sr5, Sr8a, Sr8b, Sr9b, Sr9g, Sr11, Sr12, Sr13, Sr15, Sr17, Sr22, Sr24, Sr26, Sr30, Sr36, Sr38, and Sr57; and stripe rust resistance genes: Yr4, Yr9, Yr17, Yr18, Yr27, and Yr33. This paper discusses the historical and current significance of rusts to wheat production in the world with particular reference to Australia viz-a-viz detail description of each of the three rusts and their respective virulence variations through the resistance genes deployed in the commercial cultivars.
Highlights
Wheat is one of the major cereal crops in the world in terms of area of cultivation and quantity of grain produced [1]
Majority of the wheat production in the world comes from bread wheat (T. aestivum) that is used mainly as our for the making of a large variety of leavened and at breads, and for the manufacture of various baking products
Wheat production started in Australia in 1788 during the colonial era using late maturing European cultivars that failed to adapt due to the summer heat and drought conditions prevailing in the country
Summary
Wheat is one of the major cereal crops in the world in terms of area of cultivation and quantity of grain produced [1]. Rust diseases are still the major threats of wheat plant causing significant yield losses and decreased qualities of grains [17, 19, 20,21,22].
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