Information sheet : Do you know your rusts?

Abstract

There are two well-known rust diseases of sugarcane – orange rust caused by Puccinia kuehnii and brown rust caused by Puccinia melanocephala. During the 1970s brown rust spread to many sugar industries throughout the world and, consequently, was known as ‘common’ rust. It appeared in Australia in 1978. Orange rust, although present in Australia since the 1890s, was considered a rare disease.