Fungal disease threatens wheat production

Agroup of international researchers joined forces and under the leadership of the Technical University of Munich recently released the results of their work on plant diseases.

In the research paper published on Science Daily, the study revealed that further spread of wheat blast could reduce global wheat production by 13% until 2050.

According to the university, the result is dramatic for global food security.

The disease known as wheat blast was first discovered in 1985. It is caused by a fungus called Magnaporthe oryzae and mostly found in warm and humid regions.

The group, from Germany, Mexico, Bangladesh, the US and Brazil, have modelled how wheat blast will spread in the future.

The results show that South America, Southern Africa and Asia will be the regions most affected by the future spread of the disease.

The research also shows that the disease will affect previously untouched countries.

“According to the model, the risk is low in Europe and East Asia, with the exception of Italy, southern France, Spain and the warm and humid regions of south-east China,” said the team.

For their study, the researchers focused on the influence of wheat blast on production by combining a simulation model for wheat growth and yield with a newly developed wheat blast model.

“Environmental conditions such as the weather are thus included in the calculations, as is data on plant growth.

“In this way, the scientists are modelling the disease pressure in the sensitive phase when the ear matures,” they wrote. –