Brazil: With climate change, blast could reduce global wheat production by 13%

Climate change is favoring the fungus that causes wheat blast, a disease that has significant impacts on wheat production. It has the potential to affect 13.5 million hectares and risks reducing global wheat production by 13%. The projections are from the study Production vulnerability to wheat blast disease under climate change published in Nature Climate Change. Wheat blast is considered the most recently identified disease of economic importance in wheat worldwide. It is caused by a fungus, Pyricularia oryzae Triticum (Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum), which attacks leaves and ears, causing damage that can compromise up to 100% of wheat yield. According to Embrapa Trigo (RS) researcher José Maurício Fernandes, the development of the fungus that causes wheat blast is favored by high temperatures and humidity, conditions present in countries with tropical and subtropical climates. According to him, what has drawn attention is the incidence of the disease also in cold ...