Yellow Rust Fungi

Rust fungi get their name from their powdery brown, orange and yellow spores, which are produced on the leaves of infected plants.

There are many different species of rust fungi, all occurring as plant parasites or pathogens. Most have very complex life-cycles, with up to five different types of spore produced by each species and some species even infect completely different plants (alternate hosts) at different times of the year. As a result, until the full life-cycle had been demonstrated, many rust fungi were thought to be two completely separate species. Even within a single species, rust fungi have many different races that can only infect particular varieties or cultivars of a host plant.

Yellow or Stripe Rust, known as Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, occurs on wheat and yields can be reduced by up to 7 tonnes per hectare. At Rothamsted we are developing methods to prohibit the spread of the fungus within fields.