leaf rust

noun

Plant Pathology.

1. a disease, especially of cereals and other grasses, characterized by rust-colored pustules of spores on the affected leaf blades and sheaths and caused by any of several rust fungi.

Word History and Origins

Origin of leaf rust¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

A wakeup call came in 2012, when shifts in temperature and rainfall linked to climate change triggered an outbreak of coffee leaf rust, a debilitating fungus, that would affect Latin America for years.

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Its low genetic diversity means it could be completely decimated, like the monoculture Cavendish banana, by pathogens, such as coffee leaf rust, which causes $1-2 billion in losses annually.

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Today, that renders arabica coffee plants more vulnerable to diseases like coffee leaf rust, which cause billions of dollars in losses every year.

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The researchers explored the makeup of one arabica variety that is resistant to coffee leaf rust, highlighting sections of its genetic code that could help protect the plant.

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The new tree seeds, developed by agronomists at Starbucks’ Costa Rica farm Hacienda Alsacia, are resistant to coffee leaf rust, a disease exacerbated by climate change.

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