Prairie Public Broadcasting

Wheat Stem Rust: New Strain, New Concerns FARGO, ND (NDPR) - U-G-99 is a strain of the plant disease Wheat Stem Rust, and it has developed a resistance to common methods of treatment. North Dakota State University Experimental Station Director Ken Grafton says the strain was identified in Africa in 1999 and is raising concerns around the globe...

"Computer models that the U-S-D-A A-R-S folks have developed on the spread and dissemination of this really devastating stem rust strain - which continually mutates and changes as it is spreading - is that it will go through Asia and probably get into the United States in the not too distant future."

Grafton says adding to the challenge is the fact it takes about 10-to-12 years to develop new varieties of wheat that would be resistant to the disease. Grafton says while the strains may vary, fighting leaf and stem rust is nothing new...

"The spores can travel several hundred miles once it gets up into the atmosphere. Once they're disseminated by the pustule it gets carried and spread by wind currents. Every year we have potential wheat leaf rust and stem rust problems coming in from northern Mexico that come all the way through North Dakota into Manitoba. So it's not uncommon that they travel several hundred miles in a short period of time."

Grafton says researchers are able to keep ahead of any problems by remaining vigilant and cautious. He says it becomes a matter of remaining one step ahead of nature. © Copyright 2009, NDPR