PRO/PL> Brown rust, sugar cane - Australia (WA)

[Brian Edmonds]

BROWN RUST, SUGAR CANE - AUSTRALIA (WA)
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Date: 26 Jan 2004
From: ProMED-mail<promed at promedmail.org>
Source: 22 Jan 2004, Australian Broadcasting Corp., Rural News [edited]
<http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s1030479.htm>

Brown rust disease discovered in Western Australia
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The fungal disease brown rust has been discovered on sugar cane farms in 
the Ord River district, in Western Australia.

The Department of Agriculture's Bill Webb says the disease is common in 
other cane-growing regions around the world and Australia, but this is the 
first time it's been discovered in WA's Kimberley region.  He says he's 
confident the industry will be able to manage the disease.

According to Webb, the only permanent disease management strategy is the 
use of resistant cultivars. Short-term spraying options are available, but 
they are of doubtful economic viability.

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ProMED-mail
<promed at promedmail.org>

[In addition to Australia, sugarcane brown rust (a.k.a. sugarcane orange 
rust) occurs in USA, Ecuador, Colombia, Mauritius and perhaps elsewhere. In 
Australia, the disease has been confirmed on sugarcane in most of the 18 
sugarcane farms in the Ord district of the Kimberley region. The causal 
pathogen is _Puccinia melanocephala_. The best means of disease management 
is to grow resistant cultivars, but resistance is often unstable in some 
cultivars, presumably because of variants of the pathogen. Farmers are 
encouraged to diversify their varieties to minimize damage. Sulfur is often 
used for control of rust on sugarcane, but that option is not effective in 
the long run. Another strategy is to avoid planting susceptible cultivars. 
The French plant research agency CIRAD is actively searching for candidate 
resistance genes.

Useful references:
<http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_SC007>
<http://wwww.cirad.fr/presentation/programmes/biotrop/resultats/biositecirad/s
ugar.htm>
- Mod.DH]

[see also:
2001
----
Puccinia sp., sugarcane orange rust - Australia (Qd) 20010225.0365]
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