World wheat production to fall by 13% due to dangerous fungus

Wheat

Brazil

Published Feb 6, 2024

Tridge summary

An international team of scientists has warned that the global wheat harvest could decrease by 13% by 2050 due to the spread of the grain fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. First discovered in 1985 in Brazil, the fungus has since spread to other Latin American countries, Bangladesh, and Zambia. It is also spreading to previously unaffected regions including India, eastern Africa, Australia, the southeastern USA, Uruguay, and Central America. The most affected regions will be South America, Asia, and southern Africa, with a potential 75% crop death in South America and Africa. To mitigate this, farmers may need to switch to more resistant crops or breed more resistant wheat varieties.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

The further spread of one of the most dangerous grain fungi in the world could reduce the volume of the world wheat harvest by 13 percent of the current one by 2050. The online publication FarmingUK writes about this with reference to research data from an international team of scientists. We are talking about Magnaporthe oryzae, which was first discovered in the world in 1985 and became a “thunderstorm” in humid regions for the production of not only wheat, but also rice. It first appeared in Brazil, then began to spread to neighboring Latin American countries. In 2016, the dangerous parasite was recorded for the first time outside this continent, namely in Bangladesh, and in 2018 it was discovered in Zambia. Scientists have calculated grain losses due to climate change The researchers conducted simulations showing how wheat yields would be affected in the future by Magnaporthe oryzae, and which countries would be affected first. It showed that in the near future it will affect ...

Source: Rosng