The Brazilian government issued Monday an alert against the Puccinia kuehnii, a plant pathogen that causes the most dangerous disease of orange rust to sugar cane.

According to a statement issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, a kind of sugar cane known as RB72454 has been proved to be susceptible to orange rust.

As cases of orange rust have been reported in a series of countries such as Australia, Indonesia, the United States and Brazil's neighboring countries of Guatemala and Nicaragua, the production of sugar and ethanol in Brazil now is facing a huge threat, said the government.

Brazil recommended people going to Brazil from the above countries take precautious measures such as washing and ironing all clothes before packing luggage and not to bring any vegetables to Brazil.

Since the Puccinia kuehnii is airborne, the ministry considers an eventual infection inevitable.

However, the ministry said such precautious measure could postpone the process, and when the next plantation season comes a new type of sugar cane is expected to be developed with better resistance to the pathogen.

Brazil currently has some 7.8 million hectares of sugar cane farmland.

Once a plant is infected by orange rust, it is infected for a life time. Usually orange rust does not kill plants but causes them to be so stunted and weakened that they produce little or no fruit.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2008)