2BladesThere are other diseases which are devastating and for which no resistances are available. We hope to address these diseases in time.
Potential Future Projects
Unsolved crop diseases
Cacao Diseases
90-95% of cacao is produced by small-holder farmers, with 40-50 M people depending on it for their livelihood. Black pod and Witches’ broom are the two most damaging diseases of cacao. Image: Copyright Presse750 | Dreamstime.com
Citrus Greening
Citrus greening, also known as HLB, is the most difficult disease threatening citrus production. It’s rapidly spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, and there is no effective treatment. Image: Wikimedia commons, T.R. Gottwald and S.M. Garnsey, USDA
Panama Disease
A new strain of this disease is threatening to wipe out banana production in South and Central America and Africa. Developing resistant varieties is the only effective strategy to contain this disease.
Striga on Pearl Millet
Striga is a parasitic weed that attacks host plants much like a root fungus. Striga infestation typically affects >300 million of the poorest people each year. Image: Wikimedia Commons courtesy of the USDA-ARS
Wheat Stripe Rust
Also known as yellow rust, this disease causes chronic infections over almost all areas of wheat production. New strains are causing annual global losses approaching $1billion. We’ve started some work on stripe rust, but we need to do more. Image: Dr. Evans Lagudah, CSIRO Plant Industry