A project costing £1.4 million is to go ahead in Cambridge to combat the problem of yellow rust in wheat.

NIAB in Cambridge and The John Innes Centre in Norwich will provide the base for a programme developing genetically resistant wheat varieties for a year.

In a move as part of an international effort to improve crop production in developing countries, four PhD students appointed in Kenya, Ethiopia and India will spend one year abroad in one of the UK partner institutions.

Yellow rust, a problematic fungal disease in wheat, causes major concerns when an epidemic breaks out with crops potentially seeing a yield loss of up to 40% especially as many modern wheat crops possess poor resistance to the disease.

Combining genetics from over 600 wheat varieties from around the globe, collected prior to intensive wheat breeding, the project aims to develop old wheat species into modern high-yielding, rust resistant varieties.

Whilst the project will benefit UK growers, for countries such as Kenya, who cannot afford a sufficient fungicide programme, this will be particularly useful.

Mery Wamalwa of Eggerton University, Kenya said;

“In Kenya, 80% of farmers growing wheat are smallholders who struggle to afford fungicides.”