Puccinia Triticina: Wheat Stripe (Yellow) Rust Pathogen: A Review

Stripe rust of wheat is commonly known as yellow rust disease of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) caused by Puccinia triticina . This disease is among the most important diseases of wheat globally. Present review presents the basic and recent information regarding the epidemiology of stripe rust with signs and symptoms of disease on an infected crop. Identification and control of the disease is becoming challenging due to lack of information, thus present review had been summarized for the understanding of local farmers and experts. Yellow rust is the foliar disease of wheat, fungal spores of P. triticina are also termed as air born disease as causative agents of disease spread through wind. Pathogens of rust disease are the potential source of reducing yield and production. These causative agents are host specific and had a great potential to reduce yield around 70-100% in case of susceptible wheat variety. Pathogenic strains of stripe rust infect the green tissues of crops, chances of disease infection are equal at any-time of one leaf stage of crop. However, the symptoms of disease appear after one week of an infection while sporulation starts just after two weeks of infection having optimum conditions of an environment. Just after disease attacks, tiny, yellow- to orange-colored rust pustules appear on an infected area which is called as uredia, having thousands of uredinio spores in each uredium, which is not visible through naked eye. These spores are usually yellow to orange in color and are powdery in nature. The type of symptoms appearance on an infected crop depends upon the nature of resistance in specific crop. Cultivation of resistant wheat varieties with the applications of effective fungicides are the possible solutions of these pathogenic spores. However, selection of suitable wheat variety and the cultivation of crop at right time keeping in mind the other environmental factors such as temperature and moisture would be important for wheat cultivation.