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Russian to English translations [PRO] Science - Agriculture / crops
Russian term or phrase:специальный рак
(US crop aid):
"...пшеница в размере 35 тонн заражена специальным раком".
"Special cancer" doesn't make any sense (to me, anyway). I can find a few hits on "special canker", but it doesn't seem to be a common disease of wheat.
Explanation: Called wheat cancer, the disease has a high infection rate and it could reduce wheat output by half. All types of fungicides were used but to no avail ...
english.cast.org.cn/n1181872/n1182069/47731.html
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 days (2009-01-11 01:35:03 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Thanks for grading and the comment.
Intuition, or "sixth sense", but it works sometimes ...
I was initially skeptical, suspecting that the link you provided was a bad translation from the Chinese but I've found some other sources. It doesn't seem common outside Asia, or at least is not reported much elsewhere.
Thanks, George! 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I don't know about cancers or cankers of wheat, but if there does turn out to be something called wheat cancer, maybe by "специальным раком" the author meant to say that the infection was inflicted deliberately? You already said from the context that this was the case. That is, "специально заражена". Just a thought.
Gary - does it then go on to say anything else about the disease? Perhaps rak isn't necessarily and only cancer, but another type of disease. Multitran isn't everything, but put рак into it and look at the phrases under Сельское хозяйство.
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Answers
2 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
вариант
Explanation: Посмотрите, пожалуйста, ссылки. У меня впечатление, что в русскоязычных статьях диагноз "рак" довольно часто применяется при описании болезней растений, однако аналогов в английских источниках пока не удается найти.
http://www.floralworld.ru/illnesses/pseudornonas.html
Возбудители - бактерии Pseudornonas, Erwinia. Бактериальные болезни растений - болезни растений, вызываемые бактериями. Особое место занимают бактериозы, связанные с появлением новообразований (опухолей).
Специализированные бактерии вызывают бактериальную пятнистость фасоли, бактериоз огурцов, чёрную бактериальную пятнистость и бактериальный рак томатов, сосудистый бактериоз капусты, рябуху табака, чёрный и базальный бактериоз пшеницы....
Мне кажется, что "рак" используется для обозначения неконтролируемого процесса, распространяющегося на все части растения (в русском языке есть такое пояснение болезни - ползет, как рак - т.е. распространяется по всему организму). Это название не имеет научной базы (имею в виду, что оно не указывает на этиологию), скорее, оно литературное.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-05 04:26:42 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Hopefully I will do some additional research tonight - just have to send the project.
Yes, they provided for "canker" the meaning "рак растений" however so far I was not able to find anything related to wheat...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 8 hrs (2009-01-05 09:08:34 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
http://agcrops.osu.edu/cropdoc/b827_75.html
Description: Stem canker begins as a reddish-brown lesion on the leaf scar after the petiole on the stem has fallen. The lesion enlarges rapidly forming a slightly sunken, reddish-brown to black girdling canker. The stem above the canker generally dies.
Location: Stem canker can occur anywhere in Ohio.
Corn, Soybean, Wheat, and Alfalfa Field GuideBulletin 827
Ann Nosova United States Local time: 05:55 Native speaker of: Russian, Ukrainian
Notes to answerer
Asker: Many thanks for the extensive research, Ann. What do you think of "canker"? It's a common express for some crops (e.g. "citrus canker"), I just couldn't find much for "wheat canker"
Explanation: Called wheat cancer, the disease has a high infection rate and it could reduce wheat output by half. All types of fungicides were used but to no avail ...
english.cast.org.cn/n1181872/n1182069/47731.html
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 days (2009-01-11 01:35:03 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Thanks for grading and the comment.
Intuition, or "sixth sense", but it works sometimes ...
George Koundelev Local time: 15:55 Native speaker of: Russian PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
I was initially skeptical, suspecting that the link you provided was a bad translation from the Chinese but I've found some other sources. It doesn't seem common outside Asia, or at least is not reported much elsewhere.
Thanks, George!
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
