Scientists from different research institutions announced that they are close to producing super rice varieties of wheat that can resist a new strain of wheat rust (Ug99) and produce more yields. The researchers involved in this study are from Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to them, the new varieties have resistance to all three wheat rusts: stem rust, yellow rust, and leaf rust.

"The new resistant varieties will come in handy as they posses important characteristics including improved yield performance, drought tolerance as well as regional suitability,"said Peter Najau, head of Durable Rust Resistance Project and wheat breeder Arther Kenya Agriculture Research Institute.

"We are facing the prospect of a biological firestorm, but it's also clear that the research community has responded to the threat at top speed, and hence the new superior varieties," said Ronnie Coffman, head of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project at Cornell University. "But the job of science is not over. Declining support for public agricultural research got us into this problem with Ug99. Unless that changes, the problem is likely to arise again in a few years. We are dealing with a constantly-evolving pathogen, and we need to stay at least one step ahead at all times," he added.

Read more at http://allafrica.com/stories/201106270665.html