Systems analysis of wheat stripe rust epidemics in China

Stripe rust is the most destructive disease of wheat in China and shows long-distance spread with interregional epidemics. Systems analysis had been implemented by the epidemiology group at the China Agricultural University to study the epidemiology of this disease from field to regional levels. This paper reviews major achievements by this group from the 1970s to the present in this pathosystem in China. Field experiments were conducted to obtain necessary parameters for constructing various simulation models. Field-level models were generated to study the spatial and temporal disease developments, while region-level models were developed to study the disease long-distance spread, interregional epidemics and strategies for disease management. Interactions between host, pathogen and environment were also studied with modelling approaches to generate information on deployment of resistance for regional disease management.