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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #172527
Title: STATUS OF KARNAL BUNT OF WHEAT IN THE UNITED STATES 1996-2004

Author
item RUSH, CHARLES - TEXAS AG EXP STATION
item STEIN, JEFFREY - S. DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item Bowden, Robert
item RIEMENSCHNEIDER, ROBERT - USDA-FAS
item BORATYNSKI, THEODORE - USDA-APHIS-PPQ
item ROYER, MATTHEW - USDA-APHIS-PPQ

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2004
Publication Date: 3/1/2005
Citation: Rush, C.M., Stein, J.M., Bowden, R.L., Riemenschneider, R., Boratynski, T., Royer, M.H. 2005. Status of karnal bunt of wheat in the united states 1996-2004. Plant Disease. Vol. 89, No. 3. PP 212-223.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Karnal bunt (Kb) of wheat was first identified in the United States in 1996, and its detection and subsequent spread set off a cascade of events and activities that impact the US wheat industry to this day. Federal regulatory agencies, state departments of agriculture, land grant universities, and state and national commodity organizations, offered discussion sessions and workshops to educate those affected by Karnal bunt. A variety of programs were initiated to deal with the disease, and a flurry of popular, technical, and scientific articles was written. Since that time, although Kb is still an issue for US wheat producers and exporters, the uproar that originally accompanied detection of the disease has subsided and new rules have been issued that allow producers more flexibility in dealing with the disease. In large part, these rule changes resulted from scientific verification that Tilletia indica is a weakly virulent pathogen that does not warrant its current status as a zero tolerance quarantine organism. The purpose of this report is to provide a chronological overview of the political, regulatory and scientific activities since the discovery of KB in the U.S. in 1996, and an update on the progress of those programs and activities.