Introduction to Plant Pathology UNIT 1

Prepared by
Mamta Shah
Agriculture instructor @LTS
shahmamta149@gmail.com
 Plant Pathology or Phytopathology
phytopathology is derived from Greek word
Phyton = plant
Pathos = suffering/ disease
Logos = study/ knowledge

It is a branch of agricultural science that deals with the study of

• cause of the disease
• etiology of the disease
• resulting losses and
• management of plant disease.

These studies help plant pathologists to decide better methods of preventing

or controlling diseases and alleviating the damage caused by them.
Heinrich Anton De Bary is Father of Plant pathology and Mycology.
 Objective of plant pathology

To study biotic, abiotic and environmental cause of disease/

disorder of plant.

To study mechanism of plant disease development.

To study interaction between host and the pathogen.

To develop the methods of plant disease management/control.

 Importance of plant pathology
Plant pathology has advance techniques to protect crops from losses due to diseases.
The science of plant pathology has contributed disease free certified seed production.
With the mode of knowledge of disease spread, many diseases of economical importance
can now be checked, minimized or controlled.
It gives us knowledge about the interaction between host, pathogen and environment.
Disease forecasting
Protection of crops from disease
Crop improvement and varietal resistance have been achieved against many diseases
through joint effort of breeder and plant pathologist.
Plant pathology has made possible to restrict the spread of diseases from one place to
another through suitable measures and quarantine legislation.
Diseases can be avoided in the cold storage by the application of plant pathological
measures.
 Scope of plant pathology
Its ultimate goal is to prevent and control plant diseases of
economic importance.
Responsibilities of the science of plant pathology may be
summarized as under:
Study of etiology, symptoms, and recurrence of such diseases.
Plant pathology deals with the different aspects of plant diseases
and has wide scope .
Plant virology, mycology, chemistry of fungi toxicity.
Disease forecasting and plant quarantine.
 Crop yield
Crop yield is a standard measurement of the amount of crop
harvested/produced per unit area of land.
It is usually expressed in kilograms/hectare or metric ton/hectare.
Crop yield is the measure most often used for cereal, grain, or legumes.
Importance:
There are a lot of mouths to feed on our planet and there's a finite amount of
land to grow food on. Being able to estimate crop yield allows us to
understand food security, the ability to produce enough food to meet human
needs in the future. And also explains why our commodities (tomatoes) can cost
more one year and less the following year.
Crop yield prediction is very important for global production of food.
The yield of crops are greatly affected by various factors that may be biotic
or abiotic. The most important factors that influence crop yield are:
oSoil fertility
oAvailability of water
oClimate
oDiseases or pests

1. Soil fertility or nutrient content: there are 17 nutrients that are

essential for the proper crop development. Each is equally important to
plants although they are required in vastly different amounts. The
absence of any one of these nutrients has the potential to decrease crop
yield. Soil is the major source of these nutrients. Therefore, they have a
great impact on crop production.
2. Availability of water: It has direct Impact on crop yield. Too little water can
cause crops to wither and die, whereas excessive rainfall or excess irrigation
have adverse effects on crop growth. When crops are over irrigated, water,
energy, labor and fertilizer are wasted and crop production can decrease.
3. Climate (drought, cold, flood, heat stress, etc.) : one of the most overlooked
factors that influences crop production is climate. With the changing of
climate agriculture faces increasing problems with extreme weather events
leading to considerable yield losses of crops.
4. Diseases and pests: They come in various shapes and sizes and may cause
damage in number of ways. Pathogens and pests causes reduction of
available resources for plants, which fail to produce enough biomass, seeds
and thus yield.
Plant pathology paly an important role in yield reduction of crops.
 Major historical events occurred due to plant disease
Year Disease Locality
1845 (Irish Late blight of potato (Phytophthora infestans) Ireland
Famine)

1854 Powdery mildew (Uncinula necator) France

1870 Coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix) Sri lanka

1878 Downy mildew of grapevine (Plasmopara viticola) France

1916 Wheat rust (Puccinia graminis tritici) USA, Canada

1921 Bunchy top of banana Australia

1930 Sigatoka disease of banana (Mycospharella musicola) America

 Year Disease Locality
1936 Red rot of sugarcane (Colletotrichum falcatum) India (U.P)

1943 (The Great Brown spot of rice (Helminthosporium oryza) now India (west Bengal)
Bengal famine) Drechslera oryza

1951 Bacterial blight of rice (Xanthomonas campestris pv. Campestris ) India

1969 Southern corn blight (Helminthosporium maydis ) USA

1984 Apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) India

1999 Rice tungro ( virus ) India

 Terminology in plant pathology
Microorganism: They are typically uni or multicellular microscopic organisms,
widely distributed in air, water, soil, dead matter and with the bodies of living
plants and animals. The study of microorganism is called microbiology
Host: a plant that is invaded by a parasite and from which the parasite obtains
its nutrients.
Pathogen: an entity that can cause disease in a host plant.
Pathogenicity : ability of pathogen to cause disease.
Disease: Any deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an
organism, generally associated with certain signs and symptoms
Disorder: It is an effect in a plant due to deficiency or excess of something
(temp, , pH, Light, nutrient, etc.) Non-infectious diseases are usually referred as
disorder. Abiotic factors are responsible for causing disorder in plants. It cannot
be transmitted from disesed plants to healthy plants.
Etiology: It is the science of the cause of the disease or the study of the casual
factors , its nature and relation with the host.
Biotic factors : are those living components which affect the population of
other living organisms. It includes plants, animals, microorganism.
Abiotic factors: are non-living components of the environment which affects
the function of environment and living organisms. It includes rainfall, wind,
temperature, altitude, soil, pollution, nutrients, pH and solar radiation.
Nematode: any unsegmented worm of the phylum Nematode which contain
an elongated and cylindrical body e.g. root knot nematode. The study of
nematode is called nematology.
Parasite: organisms which derive the material they need for growth from
living organism
Susceptibility: Inability of the host to resist the attack of the pathogen.
Resistance: Ability of the host to resist the attack of the pathogen.
Sign : The pathogen or its parts or products seen on a host plant. Example,
bacterial cell, hyphae.
Symptoms : It is the external or internal reaction or alternations of a plant as
a result of a disease.
Syndrome: The set of varying symptoms characterizing a disease are
collectively called a syndrome. Or sign and symptoms studied both , called
syndrome.
Pathogenesis : It is the chain of events that lead to development of disease in
the host (or) sequence of progress in disease development from the initial
contact between the pathogen and its host to the completion of the
syndrome.
Inoculum : it is the part of pathogen which on contact with susceptible host
plant cause infection.