<h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(230, 0, 0);">Magnaporthe Oryzae fungus</strong></h1><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><h3><strong>Context&nbsp;</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">Recently, scientists have warned that the<strong> fungus Magnaporthe oryzae,</strong> which is destroying South American wheat crops, could spread worldwide.</li></ul><h3><strong>About&nbsp;</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">Magnaporthe oryzae <strong>originated in South America, but cases of infection have also been reported in Asia in 2016 and Africa in 2018.&nbsp;</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">Genomic analysis of fungus samples from all three continents showed that these fungi are part of the same family.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Magnaporthe oryzae infects wild and cultivated grasses, most notably rice and wheat.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">The pathogen affects the crop in a<strong> disease known as ‘wheat blast’.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1"><strong>The pathogen is also resistant to fungicides.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">It spreads through infected seeds, and crop residues as well as by spores that can travel long distances in the air.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">The crop fungi are known to mutate and adapt to new conditions</li></ul><h3>History of the outbreak of this disease</h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">Researchers first detected this pathogen in <strong>Brazilian wheat crops in the 1980s.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">Asia’s first outbreak of this pathogenic wheat blast was reported in <strong>Bangladesh in 2016.</strong></li></ul><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong>PRELIMS NOTES:</strong><a href="https://www.sunyaias.com/subscription-details/prelims-2023-sunya-notes-current-affairs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);"><strong>CLICK HERE</strong></a></h1>