CP

2nd Term Exam

1. Describe the conditions that favors epidemic.

 The increase in the amount of disease at any one time is dependent on the following:(a)
the initial amount of disease or initial amount of inoculum, (b) the rate of disease
increases and, (c) the duration of disease increases or the period of time involved.
"Compound interest" diseases are those wherein the pathogens are readily spread from
plant to plant during the disease cycle (as the rust and powdery mildews). Repeating
cycles occur with several generations of the pathogen (polycyclic). "Simple interest"
diseases are those where no plant-to-plant spread occurs during the primary cycle or only
one generation occurs during the growing season (monocyclic) as in root knot diseases
and vascular wilts caused by soil-borne pathogens Control practices that reduce the
amount of initial inoculum or initial plant disease cause delay of the specific point of time
at which a given disease level is reached but they do not change the rate of disease
increase. Rouging diseased plants, chemical eradication, hot water treatment, destroying
infested plant debris, soil fumigation, and using varieties with vertical resistance reduce
the initial effective inoculum. The crop may still be completely devastated but at a later
date. Control measures such as modification of the environment, or cultural practices that
hinder the growth and reproduction of the pathogen and planting varieties with horizontal
resistance reduce r or the rate of disease increase such that maturity may be reached and
one may harvest before any significant damage to the crop occurs.

2. Why is it necessary to measure the amount of disease in a crop?

 It is necessary to measure the amount of disease in crop because plant disease involves
the interaction of a plant and a pathogen as influenced by the environment, it is natural to
consider measurements of plants (e.g., crops, forest trees), pathogens (e.g., spores), and
the physical environment (e.g., ambient air temperature) when quantifying epidemics.
The measurement of disease intensity plays the same key role for plant pathology as does
diagnosis. Without quantification of disease no studies in epidemiology, no assessment of
 crop losses and no plant disease surveys and their applications would be possible. Disease
assessment is also needed for many other applications in plant pathology, such as
screening for resistance and fungicides. It expresses the effects of various treatments or
factors on disease in experiments, and disease control.

3. In general, how a disease (mention any particular disease with its causal organism) in
plant develop and progressed into a full-blown disease up to the point that it can already
affect the yield of the crop?
 Early Blight these are fungal diseases of tomatoes, potatoes and other related plants.
Early blight appears as dark brown to black leaf spots with concentric rings. Black spots
develop on stems and large, black, leathery, sunken spots on the fruit. Infections often
occur in May or June in wet years. Early blight of potato is caused by the fungal pathogen
Alternaria solani. The disease affects leaves, stems and tubers and can reduce yield, tuber
size, storability of tubers, quality of fresh-market and processing tubers and marketability
of the crop. In most production areas, early blight occurs annually to some degree. The
severity of early blight is dependent upon the frequency of foliar wetness from rain, dew,
or irrigation; the nutritional status of the foliage; and cultivar susceptibility. The disease
first develops on mature and senescing foliage, and early maturing cultivars are the most
susceptible. Potato is the primary host, but the disease also can be severe on tomatoes,
and occur on other solanaceous plants such as hairy nightshade.

4. How are you going to manage the disease you mentioned in number 3? What strategies or
approaches are you going to use?
 Early blight can be minimized by maintaining optimum growing conditions, including
proper fertilization, irrigation, and management of other pests. Grow later maturing,
longer season varieties. Fungicide application is justified only when the disease is
initiated early enough to cause economic loss. Once blight is positively identified, I
willact quickly to prevent it from spreading. Remove all affected leaves and burn them or
place them in the garbage. Mulch around the base of the plant with straw, wood chips or
other natural mulch to prevent fungal spores in the soil from splashing on the plant.
5. If you are asked to identify and manage a disease which is not familiar to you, what
would you do?
 I will look for signs of biotic causal agents. Signs are much more specific to disease-
causing agents than are symptoms and are extremely useful in the diagnosis of a disease
and identification of the agent causing the disease. The use of a hand lens and a knife can
be valuable for a diagnostician in the field. That is what I will do if I were asked to
identify and manage a disease that is not familiar to me.