Abstract
Wheat rusts, stem rust, leaf rust, and stripe or yellow rust are the major biotic constraints in all wheat-growing regions of Ethiopia. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify the temporal-spatial hot spot pattern of wheat rust incidence and severity in Ethiopia. A GIS-based hotspot analysis tool was employed to identify the spatial distribution of hot spot patterns and temporal trends using survey data collected by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research from the fields of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The analysis identified seven hot spot pattern categories; no trend detected, new hot spot, consecutive hot spot, diminishing hot spot, oscillating hot spot, persistent hot spot and a sporadic hot spot for yellow and stem rusts distributed in different parts of the country. For instance, the persistent hot spot is observed in west Arsi and Bale zones, which are the potential wheat-growing areas of the country while new hot spots are emerging in central and northern parts of the country. Generally, areas where these two hot spot patterns occurred, are requiring special attention to minimize yield loss due to rust and tackle food insecurity. Key words: Emerging hotspot, stem rust, yellow rust, leaf rust.
Highlights
Wheat is cultivated on over 1.6 million hectares of land, with an annual production of 4.64 million tons, contributing about 15.17% of the total grain production in Ethiopia (CSA, 2017)
Out of the detected hot spot pattern categories, the areas where persistent hot spot, consecutive hot spot and new hot spot were identified are of particular interest to pathologists as they indicate areas where require special attention
Persistent hot spot is identified in west Arsi and Bale zones for yellow and stem rusts and in the West Arsi zone for leaf rust
Summary
Wheat is cultivated on over 1.6 million hectares of land, with an annual production of 4.64 million tons, contributing about 15.17% of the total grain production in Ethiopia (CSA, 2017). The area under wheat has increased from 0.77 million ha in 1997 to 1.69 million ha in 2017 during the last 20 years (CSA, 1998, 2017) It ranked fourth after tef (Eragrostis tef), maize (Zea mays L) and Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L) in land-coverage and total production (CSA, 2017). Wheat ranks second in terms of productivity with the average yield of 2.73 t/ha at the national level. Despite the large area coverage of wheat in Ethiopia, the national average yield is 2.7 t/ha (CSA, 2017), which is much lower than the average of African and world yield productivity.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
