From Farrer to the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program
R. A. McIntoshThe University of Sydney, Plant Breeding Institute Cobbitty, 107 Cobbitty Road, PMB 11, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia. Email: bobm@camden.usyd.edu.au
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 58(6) 550-557 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR07148
Submitted: 10 April 2007 Accepted: 24 May 2007 Published: 26 June 2007
Abstract
Australia has a proud history in the development of rust-resistant wheat, a history that has evolved with the development of knowledge of host–pathogen genetics and the continuing transition of plant breeding from an art to science. William Farrer, who migrated to Australia to relieve his problem of tuberculosis, witnessed rust problems on farmers’ fields and addressed the problem as a private individual. Before the rediscovery of Mendel’s principles of inheritance he, like contemporaries in other countries, appreciated that variability was present and was inherited such that different traits could be recombined. He appreciated that there were 2 separate rusts and that both, particularly the less frequent stem rust, had to be present for effective selection in breeding programs. The University of Sydney has the oldest Faculty of Agriculture in the country and one of its first graduates initiated, in 1921, studies on cereal rust pathogen variability, host resistance, and resistance breeding. That program continues to the present time with the recurring themes of pathogen variability, host resistance, and the best ways of achieving lasting resistance. Until the 1970s, most of the knowledge of rust variability at the national level was applied to the University’s breeding program, targeted to prime hard-quality wheat for northern NSW. Following the 1973 rust epidemic in southern Australia, a National Wheat Rust Control Program was initiated, and it has evolved through several steps to the present Australian Cereal Rust Control Program with international dimensions. This paper reviews some of the history, development, applications, and achievements of 88 years of cereal rust research.
Additional keywords: leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, pathogenicity surveys, breeding for resistance.
Acknowledgments
My entire research career was funded by the Wheat Industry Research Council, later GRDC, and I gratefully acknowledge 40 years of support. Many PBI colleagues have come and gone and the following are but a few: I. A. Watson, E. P. Baker, N. H. Luig, B. D. H. Latter, D. R Marshall, D. The, N. F. Derera, F. W. Ellison, L. O’Brien, J. D. Oates, J. Gyarfas, G. Brown, D. Gow, G. Standen, R. F. Park, C. R. Wellings, H. S. Bariana, and P. Zhang. My early overseas mentors included E. R. Sears, W. Q. Loegering, and D. R. Knott, and my closest overseas research collaborators were P. L. Dyck, R. Johnson, and R. P. Singh. To all I convey my gratitude. My thanks go to G. Hollamby, L. O’Brien, R. Park, and C. Wellings for comments on the draft manuscript.
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