Farmers growing wheat around the world share a common fear: crops destroyed by a disease called wheat blast. The fungal disease first emerged in Brazil in 1985 and wiped out a third of Brazil’s wheat crop in 2009. It is now spreading.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researchers at Kansas State University are working with the University of Passo Fundo in Brazil to find creative ways to detect and prevent the spread of wheat blast.
“Wheat blast poses a significant threat to global grain production,” said Barbara Valent, a wheat blast expert at Kansas State University.
The disease is easily transmitted from infected fields to healthy ones by wind and rain, and thrives in humid weather, Barbara said, whose lab in Kansas identified a gene that offers partial resistance to the disease.
The disease spread to Bangladesh in 2016 and is found in the following countries: Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, Barbara said. She is concerned because the disease is transmitted through wheat seeds, like the grain imported for food.
Barbara is working with Mauricio Fernandes, a disease forecasting specialist at the University of Passo Fundo. With the help of colleagues from Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, and Bangladesh, they developed a smartphone app that relies on the help of farmers worldwide.
“The app allows farmers in regions where the disease occurs to send an alert when they detect the disease in their fields. It also allows us to document exactly when and where the disease occurs,” Barbara explained.
“The faster we detect the disease, the better we can control it,” Barbara said.
Source: share.america.gov