From Farrer to the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program

Abstract

Australia has a proud history in the development of rust-resistant wheat, a history that has evolved with the development of knowledge of host–pathogen genetics and the continuing transition of plant breeding from an art to science. William Farrer, who migrated to Australia to relieve his problem of tuberculosis, witnessed rust problems on farmers’ fields and addressed the problem as a private individual. Before the rediscovery of Mendel’s principles of inheritance he, like contemporaries in other countries, appreciated that variability was present and was inherited such that different traits could be recombined. He appreciated that there were 2 separate rusts and that both, particularly the less frequent stem rust, had to be present for effective selection in breeding programs. The University of Sydney has the oldest Faculty of Agriculture in the country and one of its first graduates initiated, in 1921, studies on cereal rust pathogen variability, host resistance, and resistance breeding. That program continues to the present time with the recurring themes of pathogen variability, host resistance, and the best ways of achieving lasting resistance. Until the 1970s, most of the knowledge of rust variability at the national level was applied to the University’s breeding program, targeted to prime hard-quality wheat for northern NSW. Following the 1973 rust epidemic in southern Australia, a National Wheat Rust Control Program was initiated, and it has evolved through several steps to the present Australian Cereal Rust Control Program with international dimensions. This paper reviews some of the history, development, applications, and achievements of 88 years of cereal rust research.