MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND OPTIMAL CONTROL OF WHEAT STRIPE RUST (Yellow Rust) DISEASE

Wheat Stripe Rust is a devastating fungal disease that is the largest limitation to wheat production and threatens the global food supply. In this work, we proposed a mathematical system of ordinary differential equations to model the wheat Stripe Rust transmission dynamics. First, we showed the feasible region, the positivity of the solution, the model’s equilibrium points and the basic reproduction number. Second, we used the Pontryagin maximum principle to extend the basic system into an optimal control system by embedding three control measures (resistant cultivars, fungicides and cultural practices). Finally, we used a numerical simulation of the optimality system to demonstrate the thorough impacts of resistant wheat cultivars, fungicide treatments and cultural practices in reducing the epidemic.