Soil-dwelling Fungus

The soil-dwelling fungus 'take-all' inflicts devastating stress on the roots of cereal crops worldwide and is a major disease problem in UK wheat crops. However, recent field trial data from Rothamsted Research, an institute of the BBSRC, has demonstrated that farmers can control this devastating disease by selecting wheat cultivars that reduce take-all build-up in the soil when grown as a first wheat. Wheat is an important staple crop worth £1.6 billion a year to the UK economy alone. This work, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the HGCA, will help farmers to increase yields, combat global food security and contribute to UK economic growth. Take-all disease, caused by the fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, reduces grain yield and quality and results in an increased amount of residual applied nitrogen fertiliser left in the soil post-harvest. Despite the use of chemical, biological and cultural control methods, the take-all fungus is still one of the most difficult pathogens of wheat to control.