Wheat leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) is a fungal disease that affects wheat, barley, rye stems, leaves and grains. In temperate zones it is destructive on winter wheat because the pathogen overwinters. · Leaf rust, also known as brown rust, is one of the three major types of rust infections in wheat. Leaf rust, also known as brown rust, is caused by the fungus Puccinia triticina. This rustdisease occurs wherever wheat, barley and other cereal crops are grown. Leaf rust attacks foliage only. There are three different rustdiseases that affect wheat—leaf rust (also known as brown rust or orange rust), stripe rust (commonly known as yellow rust), and stem rust (commonly referred to as black rust of black stem rust). Identify rustdiseases of wheat and barley, damage descriptions, parts of plants infected and other helpful information. Leaf rust survives between crops as mycelium or as uredinia on infected volunteer and/or on early sown and late maturing wheat crops. The pathogen can survive almost any condition the host leaf can survive. Leaf, stem, and stripe rust comprise the three rustdiseases of wheat. In the central Great Plains of North America, leaf rust is the most common of the three diseases. Since 2000, stripe rust has increasingly become more common and widespread in Nebraska and other Great Plains states. Wheat rustdiseases (yellow, leaf and stem rust) are the most important diseases of wheat and occur in almost all wheat growing countries. Wheat rusts, like other pathogens, can evolve into new strains that are more virulent and damaging to wheat crops.
