Person: Hort, M.C.
Loading...
Email Address
Birth Date
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Job Title
Last Name
Hort
First Name
M.C.
Name
Hort, M.C.
6 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
- Irrigation can create new green bridges that promote rapid intercontinental spread of the wheat stem rust pathogen(IOP Publishing Ltd., 2022) Bradshaw, C.D.; Thurston, W.; Hodson, D.P.; Mona, T.; Smith, J.W.; Millington, S.; Blasch, G.; Alemayehu, Y.; Danu, K.G.; Hort, M.C.; Gilligan, C.A.
Publication - An early warning system to predict and mitigate wheat rust diseases in Ethiopia(IOP Publishing, 2019) Allen, C.; Thurston, W.; Meyer, M.; Nure, E.; Bacha, N.; Alemayehu, Y.; Stutt, R.; Safka, D.; Craig, A.P.; Derso, E.; Burgin, L.; Millington, S.; Hort, M.C.; Hodson, D.P.; Gilligan, C.A.Wheat rust diseases pose one of the greatest threats to global food security, including subsistence farmers in Ethiopia. The fungal spores transmitting wheat rust are dispersed by wind and can remain infectious after dispersal over long distances. The emergence of new strains of wheat rust has exacerbated the risks of severe crop loss. We describe the construction and deployment of a near realtime early warning system (EWS)for two major wind-dispersed diseases of wheat crops in Ethiopia that combines existing environmental research infrastructures, newly developed tools and scientific expertise across multiple organisations in Ethiopia and the UK. The EWS encompasses a sophisticated framework that integrates field and mobile phone surveillance data, spore dispersal and disease environmental suitability forecasting, as well as communication to policy-makers, advisors and smallholder farmers. The system involves daily automated data flow between two continents during the wheat season in Ethiopia. The framework utilises expertise and environmental research infrastructures from within the cross-disciplinary spectrum of biology, agronomy, meteorology, computer science and telecommunications. The EWS successfully provided timely information to assist policy makers formulate decisions about allocation of limited stock of fungicide during the 2017 and 2018 wheat seasons. Wheat rust alerts and advisories were sent by short message service and reports to 10 000 development agents and approximately 275 000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia who rely on wheat for subsistence and livelihood security. The framework represents one of the first advanced crop disease EWSs implemented in a developing country. It provides policy-makers, extension agents and farmers with timely, actionable information on priority diseases affecting a staple food crop. The framework together with the underpinning technologies are transferable to forecast wheat rusts in other regions and can be readily adapted for other wind-dispersed pests and disease of major agricultural crops.
Publication - Keeping Ahead of the Rust Menace: Emerging Wheat Rust Early Warning Systems in Ethiopia(CIMMYT, [2018]) Allen, C.; Millington, S.; Thurston, W.; Hort, M.C.; Derso, E.; Seid, J.; Bacha, N.; Kotu, B.H.; Girma, B.; Nure, E.; Saunders, D.A.; Debebe, A.; Badebo, A.; Abeyo Bekele Geleta; Hodson, D.P.; Alemayehu, Y.; Gilligan, C.A.; Meyer, M.
Publication - Microsatellite analysis and urediniospore dispersal simulations support the movement of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici from Southern Africa to Australia(American Phytopathological Society (APS), 2019) Visser, B.; Meyer, M.; Park, R.F.; Gilligan, C.A.; Burgin, L.; Hort, M.C.; Hodson, D.P.; Pretorius, Z.The Australian wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) population was shaped by the introduction of four exotic incursions into the country. It was previously hypothesized that at least two of these (races 326-1,2,3,5,6 and 194-1,2,3,5,6 first detected in 1969) had an African origin and moved across the Indian Ocean to Australia on high-altitude winds. We provide strong supportive evidence for this hypothesis by combining genetic analyses and complex atmospheric dispersion modelling. Genetic analysis of 29 Australian and South African P. graminis f. sp. tritici races using microsatellite markers confirmed the close genetic relationship between the South African and Australian populations, thereby confirming previously described phenotypic similarities. Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model simulations using finely resolved meteorological data showed that long distance dispersal events between southern Africa and Australia are indeed possible, albeit rare. Simulated urediniospore transmission events were most frequent from central South Africa (viable spore transmission on ~7% of all simulated release days) compared with other potential source regions in southern Africa. The study acts as a warning of possible future P. graminis f. sp. tritici dispersal events from southern Africa to Australia, which could include members of the Ug99 race group, emphasizing the need for continued surveillance on both continents.
Publication - Large-scale atmospheric dispersal simulations identify likely airborne incursion routes of wheat stem rust into Ethiopia(American Phytopathological Society (APS), 2017) Meyer, M.; Burgin, L.; Hort, M.C.; Hodson, D.P.; Gilligan, C.A.In recent years, severe wheat stem rust epidemics hit Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest wheat-producing country. These were caused by race TKTTF (Digalu race) of the pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, which, in Ethiopia, was first detected at the beginning of August 2012. We use the incursion of this new pathogen race as a case study to determine likely airborne origins of fungal spores on regional and continental scales by means of a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM). Two different techniques, LPDM simulations forward and backward in time, are compared. The effects of release altitudes in time-backward simulations and P. graminis f. sp. tritici urediniospore viability functions in time-forward simulations are analyzed. Results suggest Yemen as the most likely origin but, also, point to other possible sources in the Middle East and the East African Rift Valley. This is plausible in light of available field surveys and phylogenetic data on TKTTF isolates from Ethiopia and other countries. Independent of the case involving TKTTF, we assess long-term dispersal trends (>10 years) to obtain quantitative estimates of the risk of exotic P. graminis f. sp. tritici spore transport (of any race) into Ethiopia for different ‘what-if’ scenarios of disease outbreaks in potential source countries in different months of the wheat season.
Publication - Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Race TKTTF of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici that caused a Wheat Stem Rust Epidemic in Southern Ethiopia in 2013–14(American Phytopathological Society (APS), 2015) Olivera Firpo, P.D.; Newcomb, M.; Szabo, L.J.; Rouse, M.N.; Johnson, J.W.; Gale, S.; Luster, D.G.; Hodson, D.P.; Cox, J.A.; Burgin, L.; Hort, M.C.; Gilligan, C.A.; Patpour, M.; Justesen, A.F.; Hovmoller, M.S.; Woldeab, G.; Hailu, E.; Kotu, B.H.; Tadesse, K.; Pumphrey, M.; Singh, R.P.; Yue JinA severe stem rust epidemic occurred in southern Ethiopia during November 2013 to January 2014, with yield losses close to 100% on the most widely grown wheat cultivar, ‘Digalu’. Sixty-four stem rust samples collected from the regions were analyzed. A meteorological model for airborne spore dispersal was used to identify which regions were most likely to have been infected from postulated sites of initial infection. Based on the analyses of 106 single-pustule isolates derived from these samples, four races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici were identified: TKTTF, TTKSK, RRTTF, and JRCQC. Race TKTTF was found to be the primary cause of the epidemic in the southeastern zones of Bale and Arsi. Isolates of race TKTTF were first identified in samples collected in early October 2013 from West Arsi. It was the sole or predominant race in 31 samples collected from Bale and Arsi zones after the stem rust epidemic was established. Race TTKSK was recovered from 15 samples from Bale and Arsi zones at low frequencies. Genotyping indicated that isolates of race TKTTF belongs to a genetic lineage that is different from the Ug99 race group and is composed of two distinct genetic types. Results from evaluation of selected germplasm indicated that some cultivars and breeding lines resistant to the Ug99 race group are susceptible to race TKTTF. Appearance of race TKTTF and the ensuing epidemic underlines the continuing threats and challenges posed by stem rust not only in East Africa but also to wider-scale wheat production.
Publication