In terms of human consumption, wheat ranks the third most important cereal grain crop in Nepal. But the low productivity of the crop has been a constant issue in wheat production areas due to several factors, with problem of insect pests and diseases as the major one.

In Nepal, yellow rust is a prevailing threat in wheat cultivated areas with the potential of causing 30-80% of grain yield loss. Strengthening the national capacity of researchers to detect the increasing threat of yellow rust has always been an important potential solution for the timely management of the disease in the country. 

In the past weeks, 22 Nepali researchers (Nepal Agricultural Research Council and iDE) were trained on the use of MARPLE (mobile and real time plant disease diagnostics) technology for the real-time strain level identification of yellow wheat rust pathogen. The workshop was held at the National Plant Pathology Research Centre (NPPRC), in Khumaltar and was led by John Innes Centre and CIMMYT scientists in support of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Current and Emerging Threats to Crops.

The four days of the training workshop provided crucial theoretical knowledge and a practical skillset (Disease Sample collection, DNA extraction, DNA amplification, DNA quantification, library preparation, MinION sequencing, Basecalling, and Bioinformatics) for strain-level identification of wheat yellow rust pathogen.

MARPLE diagnostic is the first method to place strain-level genetic diagnostics capability in the hands of researchers, generating data in-country in near-real time.

“The technology in the hands of Nepali scientists can be game-changing for wheat rust diagnosis in Nepal. The current diagnostic methods for wheat rust are slow and costly as the samples have to be sent overseas to highly specialized labs for analysis. This quick and convenient disease diagnostic technology can greatly help in sending early warning systems and making timely disease management decisions in Nepal.”  Ditya Lamichhaney, from iDE commented.

Dr. Dave HodSon noted that the Nepali researchers will monitor yellow rust on the summer wheat crop planted at the high hills areas and then early sampling in the 2022/23 wheat season using MARPLE diagnostic.

Content Credits: Ditya Lamichhaney, CETC IL/ iDE Nepal

Image Credit: Danny Ward