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International surveillance of wheat rust pathogens: progress and challenges

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Abstract

Surveillance of wheat rust pathogens, including assessments of rust incidence and virulence characterization via either trap plots or race (pathotype) surveys, has provided information fundamental in formulating and adopting appropriate national and international policies, investments and strategies in plant protection, plant breeding, seed systems, and in rust pathogen research. Despite many successes from national and regional co-ordination of rust surveillance, few attempts were made to extend rust surveillance to international or even global levels. The Global Cereal Rust Monitoring System was established to address this deficiency. It is underpinned by an information platform that includes standardized protocols for methods and systems used in surveys, preliminary virulence testing, data, sample transmission and management at the field and national and global levels, and includes two web-based visualization tools. While considerable progress has been made towards a global system for monitoring variability in the wheat stem rust pathogen, and linking this to the threat posed by this pathogen to regional wheat production, some challenges remain, including ongoing commitment to support rust surveillance, and the ability to share and compare surveillance data.

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Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation for financial support. All authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Durable Rust in Wheat Project led by Cornell University and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute Cobbitty, Private Bag 4011, Narellan, NSW, 2567, Australia

    Robert Park

  2. Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MN, R3T 2M9, Canada

    Tom Fetch

  3. Wheat Rust Disease Global Program, AGP Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100, Rome, Italy

    Dave Hodson

  4. USDA ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory, 1551 Lindig Street, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Yue Jin

  5. ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria

    Kumarse Nazari

  6. DWR Regional Research Station, Shimla, 171 002, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Mohinder Prashar

  7. Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

    Zacharias Pretorius

Authors
  1. Robert Park
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  2. Tom Fetch
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  3. Dave Hodson
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  4. Yue Jin
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  5. Kumarse Nazari
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  6. Mohinder Prashar
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  7. Zacharias Pretorius
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Correspondence to Robert Park.

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Park, R., Fetch, T., Hodson, D. et al. International surveillance of wheat rust pathogens: progress and challenges. Euphytica 179, 109–117 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-011-0375-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-011-0375-4

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