April 9, 2008
A US university has won a $US27 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help combat Ug99, a virulent form of wheat rust first discovered in Uganda in 1999.
The stem rust has the wheat industry nervous, as it has the ability to devastate crops and is immune to many of the forms of resistance current in major commercial strains of wheat.
The grant will be used to create the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project.
It’s a partnership that will bring together 15 partner institutions focused on developing improved rust-resistant wheat varieties.
SOURCE: National grains news, updated daily on Farmonline.
http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/wheat/us27m-to-combat-dangerous-ug99-wheat-rust/84351.aspx#