Top Ten list of plant-damaging fungi
Date: 24.10.2012
The first on the list is the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae). Experts have highlighted the economic significance of this species as it can devastate rice paddies which are the food base for half the world's population.
In second place is the fungus 'botrytis bunch rot' or 'grey mould' (Botrytis cinerea). In third place are the species that include the genus Puccinia, which mainly affect wheat crops, whilst in fourth and fifth place are two species from the Fusarium genus (Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium oxysporum).
Other cereal pathogens, namely Blumeria graminis and Mycosphaerella graminicola are in sixth and seventh place on the list. In eighth place are species from the Colletotrichum genus.
The corn smut fungus or huilacoche (Ustilago maydis) is an edible fungus native to Mexico. This is in ninth place due to its scientific interest and not for its economic impact as it does not have particularly devastating effects. This species and that which sits in tenth place, Melampsora lini, have important uses in the study of the molecular bases of plant immunity and infection processes.
