Editing Wheat (section)

== Pests and diseases ==

Pests and diseases consume 21.47% of the world's wheat crop annually.<ref name="Savary-2019">{{cite journal |last1=Savary |first1=Serge |last2=Willocquet |first2=Laetitia |last3=Pethybridge |first3=Sarah Jane |last4=Esker |first4=Paul |last5=McRoberts |first5=Neil |last6=Nelson |first6=Andy |title=The global burden of pathogens and pests on major food crops |journal=[[Nature Ecology & Evolution]] |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer Science and Business Media LLC]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=4 February 2019 |doi=10.1038/s41559-018-0793-y |pages=430–439 |pmid=30718852 |bibcode=2019NatEE...3..430S |s2cid=59603871 |url=https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/cd23339a-cd2a-4075-b093-e74a05f71d98 }}</ref>

=== Diseases ===

{{main|Wheat diseases|List of wheat diseases}}

[[File:CSIRO ScienceImage 10772 Rustaffected wheat seedlings.jpg|thumb|upright|Rust-affected wheat seedlings]]

There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, and [[viruses]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abhishek |first=Aditya |date=11 January 2021 |title=Disease of Wheat: Get To Know Everything About Wheat Diseases |url=https://agriculturereview.com/2021/01/disease-of-wheat-symptoms-and-management.html |access-date=29 January 2021 |website=Agriculture Review |archive-date=24 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124121141/https://agriculturereview.com/2021/01/disease-of-wheat-symptoms-and-management.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[transgenic plant|Plant breeding]] to develop new disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides, used to prevent the significant crop losses from fungal disease, can be a significant variable cost in wheat production. Estimates of the amount of wheat production lost owing to plant diseases vary between 10 and 25% in Missouri.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/crops/g04319.htm |title=G4319 Wheat Diseases in Missouri, MU Extension |publisher= University of Missouri Extension |access-date=18 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227045640/http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/crops/g04319.htm |archive-date=27 February 2007 }}</ref> A wide range of organisms infect wheat, of which the most important are viruses and fungi.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hogan |first=C. Michael |chapter=Wheat |year=2013 |url=http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/51cbf3547896bb431f6ac8f3/?topic=51cbfc77f702fc2ba8129ab9 |editor-last=Saundry |editor-first=P. |title=Encyclopedia of Earth |publisher=National Council for Science and the Environment |location=Washington DC}}</ref>

The main wheat-disease categories are:

* Seed-borne diseases: these include seed-borne scab, seed-borne ''[[Stagonospora]]'' (previously known as ''Septoria''), [[common bunt]] (stinking smut), and [[loose smut]]. These are managed with [[fungicide]]s.<ref name="Singh-2023"/>
* Leaf- and head- [[blight]] diseases: Powdery mildew, [[Wheat leaf rust|leaf rust]], ''[[Septoria tritici]]'' leaf blotch, ''Stagonospora'' (''Septoria'') nodorum leaf and glume blotch, and ''[[Fusarium]]'' head scab.<ref name="Singh-2023"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gautam |first1=P. |last2=Dill-Macky |first2=R. |s2cid=16596348 |year=2012 |title=Impact of moisture, host genetics and ''Fusarium graminearum'' isolates on Fusarium head blight development and trichothecene accumulation in spring wheat |journal=Mycotoxin Research |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=45–58 |doi=10.1007/s12550-011-0115-6 |pmid=23605982 }}</ref>
* Crown and [[root rot]] diseases: Two of the more important of these are '[[take-all]]' and ''[[Cephalosporium gramineum|Cephalosporium]]'' stripe. Both of these diseases are soil borne.<ref name="Singh-2023"/>
* [[Stem rust]] diseases: Caused by ''Puccinia graminis'' f. sp. ''tritici'' (basidiomycete) fungi e.g. [[Ug99]]<ref name="Singh-2008">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Ravi P. |author2=Hodson, David |author3=Huerta-Espino, Julio |author4=Jin, Yue |author5=Njau, Peter |author6=Wanyera, Ruth |author7=Herrera-Foessel, Sybil |author8=Ward, Richard W. |title=Will Stem Rust Destroy the World's Wheat Crop? |series=Advances in Agronomy |display-authors=5 |year=2008 |volume=98 |pages=272–309 |doi=10.1016/S0065-2113(08)00205-8 |url=https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=36520&content=PDF |isbn=9780123743558 |access-date=4 October 2023 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108063602/https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=36520&content=PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Wheat blast]]: Caused by ''Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum''.<ref name="Kumar-2020">{{ Cite book |date=2020 |edition=1 |publication-place=[[Boca Raton, FL|Boca Raton, Florida]] |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |first3=Gyanendra |first2=Prem |first1=Sudheer |last3=Singh |last2=Kashyap |last1=Kumar |editor-first1=Sudheer |editor-first2=Prem Lal |editor-first3=Gyanendra Pratap |editor-last1=Kumar |editor-last2=Kashyap |editor-last3=Singh |oclc=1150902336 |doi=10.1201/9780429470554 |isbn=978-0-429-47055-4 |title=Wheat Blast |s2cid=235049332 |page=70}}</ref>
* Viral diseases: [[Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus|Wheat spindle streak mosaic]] (yellow mosaic) and [[barley yellow dwarf]] are the two most common viral diseases. Control can be achieved by using resistant varieties.<ref name="Singh-2023">{{cite journal |doi=10.3389/fpls.2022.1010191 |doi-access=free |title=Important wheat diseases in the US and their management in the 21st century |date=2023 |last1=Singh |first1=Jagdeep |last2=Chhabra |first2=Bhavit |last3=Raza |first3=Ali |last4=Yang |first4=Seung Hwan |last5=Sandhu |first5=Karansher S. |journal=Frontiers in Plant Science |volume=13 |pmid=36714765 |pmc=9877539 }}</ref>

A historically significant disease of cereals including wheat, though commoner in [[rye]] is [[ergot]]; it is unusual among plant diseases in also causing sickness in humans who ate grain contaminated with the fungus involved, ''[[Claviceps purpurea]]''.<ref name="Harveson-2017">{{Cite web |last=Harveson |first=Bob |date=2017-08-17 |title=Has Ergot Altered Events in World History? |url=https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/has-ergot-altered-events-world-history |website=Cropwatch |publisher=[[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]] }}</ref>

=== Animal pests ===

[[File:Pupa of Sitophilus granarius (L.) inside a wheat kernel (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Pupa]] of the wheat weevil, ''[[Sitophilus granarius]]'', inside a wheat kernel]]

Among insect pests of wheat is the [[wheat stem sawfly]],
a chronic pest in the Northern Great Plains of the United States and in the [[Canadian Prairies]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Cárcamo |first1= Héctor |last2= Entz |first2= Toby |last3=  Beres |first3= Brian |title= Estimating ''Cephus cinctus'' wheat stem cutting damage – can we cut stem counts? |journal= Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology |year=2007|volume= 24|issue=3 |pages=117–124 |url=  http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3954/1523-5475-24.3.117?journalCode=jaue |doi=10.3954/1523-5475-24.3.117 |s2cid=86001776}}</ref>
Wheat is the food plant of the [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]] ([[butterfly]] and [[moth]]) species including [[flame (moth)|the flame]], [[rustic shoulder-knot]], [[setaceous Hebrew character]] and [[turnip moth]]. Early in the season, many species of birds and rodents feed upon wheat crops. These animals can cause significant damage to a crop by digging up and eating newly planted seeds or young plants. They can also damage the crop late in the season by eating the grain from the mature spike. Recent post-harvest losses in cereals amount to billions of dollars per year in the United States alone, and damage to wheat by various borers, beetles and weevils is no exception.<ref>[http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/fea210.html Biological Control of Stored-Product Pests. Biological Control News Volume II, Number 10 October 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615060931/http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/fea210.html |date=15 June 2010 }}
* [http://www.fao.org/inpho/content/compend/allintro.htm Post-harvest Operations Compendium, FAO.]</ref> Rodents can also cause major losses during storage, and in major grain growing regions, field mice numbers can sometimes build up explosively to plague proportions because of the ready availability of food.<ref>[http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/rodents/focus.htm CSIRO Rodent Management Research Focus: Mice plagues] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721001101/http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/rodents/focus.htm |date=21 July 2010 }}</ref> To reduce the amount of wheat lost to post-harvest pests, [[Agricultural Research Service]] scientists have developed an "insect-o-graph", which can detect insects in wheat that are not visible to the naked eye. The device uses electrical signals to detect the insects as the wheat is being milled. The new technology is so precise that it can detect 5–10 infested seeds out of 30,000 good ones.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100624.htm |title=ARS, Industry Cooperation Yields Device to Detect Insects in Stored Wheat |publisher=USDA [[Agricultural Research Service]] |date=24 June 2010}}</ref>

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