The Development of "Eldo Ngano 1": The World's World's First Ug99 Resistant Mutant Wheat Variety

The wheat black stem rust disease is a virulent race of fungus, Puccinia graminis, which affects wheat plants and is caused by a strain of fungus known as Ug99. Named for its place and year of origin, Ug99 was first discovered on wheat in Uganda in 1999. The spores of this plant disease are airborne and can be easily spread by wind. If not prevented, the disease can destroy 70 to 100 per cent of the yield of wheat crops. Annually on average 8.3 million tonnes of wheat grain is lost to this disease, costing US $1.23 billion per year. Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda are hot spots for this disease. In 2009, growing international concern regarding the horrific impact of Ug99 on wheat led to the establishment of IAEA project INT/5/150, Responding to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99). This project has involved over 18 countries and 5 national and international institutions, and examined possible mutation induction treatments to deal with the challenges posed by Ug99. Meetings and workshops to facilitate the project efforts have been held in Kenya and Turkey. Ug99 continues to spread globally and has now reached the Islamic Republic of Iran. There are also reports of suspected disease occurrences in Europe. It is essential that work continues on developing mutant lines for further crop protection that can be utilized worldwide to safeguard the wheat crop from this devastating disease.