Scientists say they’re close to producing new
varieties of wheat that resist a virulent fungus while boosting
yields up to 15 percent, potentially easing a deadly threat to the
world’s food supply.
The research is part of a global drive to protect wheat from the
Ug99 strain of stem rust. It will be presented next week at a
conference in St. Paul that’s part of the Borlaug Global Rust
Initiative, based at Cornell University.
Scientists say Ug99 variants are spreading beyond the East
African countries where they were first identified in 1999.
The new wheat varieties have already been tested in Africa.