Importance & Virulence Diversity of Wheat Stem Rust in Tigray-ethiopia: Significance, Virulence Spectrum and Host Plant Resistance

Wheat stem rust also called black stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici is amongst the biotic catastrophic diseases because of its ability to cause complete annihilation of wheat crops over wide areas during epidemic years. The East African highlands in general and Ethiopia in particular is considered as a hot spot area for the development of stem rust complex. The high virulence diversity and evolution rate of the pathogen (like race Ug99) makes a considerable proportion wheat germplasm at risk. This book provides an overview of the significance of wheat stem rust, the virulence diversity and race distribution of the pathogen and its methodological race analysis. Moreover, it entails which resistance genes are effective against the identified races and potential varieties for their current level of resistance to the prevalent and virulent P. graminis f. sp. tritici races. This book is intended for use by field worker engaged in agriculture, plant pathologist, plant breeders, genetics or biotechnology, agricultural research institutions, higher learning institutions (like Universities and colleges) and others engaged in agricultural development.