wheat leaf

Wheat leaf rust, is fungal disease that affects wheat, barley and rye stems, leaves and grains. In temperate zones it is destructive on winter wheat because the pathogen overwinters. Infections can lead up to 20% yield loss exacerbated by dying leaves which fertilize the fungus. The pathogen is Puccinia rust fungus. Puccinia triticina causes 'black rust', P.recondita causes 'brown rust' and P.striiformis causes 'Yellow rust'. It is the most prevalent of all the wheat rust diseases, occurring in most wheat growing regions. It causes seriousepidemics in North America, Mexico and South America and is a devastating seasonal disease in India. All three types of Puccinia are heteroeciousrequiring two distinct and distantly related hosts (alternate hosts). Rust and the similar smut are members of the class Pucciniomycetes but rust is not normally a black powdery mass.