Stripe rust wind pathways and the Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network
By Jeremy Boychyn (M.Sc)(P.Ag), Agronomy Research Extension Specialist
Stripe rust can be a concern for Alberta producers. Due to the unique life cycle of the stripe rust pathogen, management for this disease is different than other foliar diseases. Unlike diseases such as Fusarium head blight (FHB) and leaf spot diseases, stripe rust does not typically overwinter in Alberta. This means that disease management tactics such as rotation are a less impactful tool to mitigate impacts. However, it should be noted that stripe rust can potentially overwinter in the Western Prairie region on winter wheat crops (Aboukhaddour and Amundsen 2018; Conner et al. 1988; Kumar et al. 2013; Xi et al. 2006, 2015). More often, stripe rust will survive and overwinter in the southern U.S., northern Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, and California (Chen 2005; Menzies and Gilbert 2003; Wiese 1987; Xi et al. 2015). The overwintering stripe rust pathogen will produce spores that can be blown northward by wind currents and successively impact more northerly spring cereal crops (Agrios 1988; Chen 2005; Menzies and Gilbert 2003). Eventually, wind currents may blow stripe rust spores into the Canadian Prairie region.
Above: Prairie cereal risk dashboards developed by the PCDMN based on different inoculum source regions. Sourced from: https://prairiecropdisease.blogspot.com/
This article was developed as a condensed version of the ‘2020 Wind Trajectory and Cereal Rust Overview’ found on the PCDMN website. The full overview can be found here.
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References:
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