Wheat Rust Disease Surveillance in the Value for Cultivation, Use, and Sustainability Network

Wheat production is threatened by three major rust diseases—yellow rust, stem rust, and leaf rust—which can overcome genetic resistance and lead to yield losses, especially under climate change. This practice abstract describes a coordinated surveillance effort by VCU partners across Europe to score disease severity on differential cultivars, sample symptomatic plants, and send isolates for race or genotype characterization. Data will feed into a central RustWatch database and weather-based predictive models. Rapid detection of new or exotic rust races aims to improve in-season IPM decisions, provide early alerts of susceptibility shifts in different pedoclimatic zones, and support more resilient European cropping systems.