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Impacts


Stripe rust has been an important disease of wheat, barley, rye, triticale, and certain grass hosts throughout history— reducing the yield and quality of grain and forage, and lowering seed vigor, germination, and emergence. The disease continues to cause huge yield losses worldwide, and poses a major threat to the sustainable production of cereal crops.

Yield losses due to stripe rust are most attributed to:

  • cultivar susceptibility
  • earliness of initial infection
  • rate of disease development
  • duration of the disease

Stripe rust can cause 100% yield losses if infection occurs very early and continues to develop during the growing season. Estimates of yield losses of cereals by rusts are maintained by the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul Minnesota.


Wheat stripe rust

Stripe rust of wheat is one of the most economically important diseases, and among stripe rusts on grass hosts, wheat stripe rust is the most important worldwide. As an example, the following table lists estimated grain yield losses in the U.S. since 2000. If not for the millions spent on necessary fungicides, yield loss levels could be expected to be two or three times that of observed yield loss levels.

Download the data from the above table from the Winter and Spring Wheat Estimated US Losses 2000-2021 Excel file. Original data belongs to the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul Minnesota and has been compiled for ease of use.

Barley Stripe Rust

Stripe rust of barley is one of the most important diseases of barley in the western United States, and has occurred for many years in Western Europe, the Middle East, south Asia, and east Asia. Barley stripe rust is one of the most important diseases of barley in the western United States, and has occurred for many years in Western Europe, the Middle East, south Asia, and east Asia.

References

  • Brown Jr., W.M., Hill, J.P., and Velasco, V.R. 2001. Barley yellow rust in North America. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 39:367-384.
  • Chen, X.M. 2010. Stripe rust. In: Bockus, W.W., et al. Compendium of Wheat Diseases and Pests. 3rd edition. APS Press. pp.55-58.
  • Chen, X.M. 2005. Epidemiology and control of stripe rust [Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici] on wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology. 27:314-337.
  • Chen, X.M. 2004. Epidemiology of barley stripe rust and races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei: the first decade in the United States. Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Bulletin www.crpmb.org/2004/1029chen.
  • Hovmøller, M.S., Sørensen, C.K., Walter, S., and Justesen, A.F. 2011. Diversity of Puccinia striiformis on cereals and grasses. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 49:197-217.
  • Kolmer, J., Chen, X.M., and Jin, Y. 2009. Diseases which challenge global wheat production—the wheat rusts. In: Carver, B.F., editor. Wheat: Science and Trade. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Press. pp. 89-124.
  • Marshall, D., and Sutton, R.J. 1995. Epidemiology of stripe rust, virulence of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei, and yield loss in barley. Plant Disease. 79:732-737.
  • Line, R.F. 2002. Stripe rust of wheat and barley in North America: a retrospective historical review. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 40:75-118.
  • Sharma-Poudyal, D., and Chen, X.M. 2010. Models for predicting potential yield loss of wheat caused by stripe rust in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Phytopathology. 101:544-554.
  • Wellings, C.R. 2011. Global status of stripe rust: a review of historical and current threats. Euphytica. 179:129-141.