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Losses Due To Plant Pathogens

This document discusses plant pathogens and the losses they cause globally and in important crops. [1] Major diseases worldwide include rice blast and rusts in wheat, while epidemics have historically caused famines through late blight in potatoes and rusts in wheat. [2] Pathogens like fungi, bacteria, viruses, viroids, nematodes and insects are responsible for 10-40% crop losses annually. [3] These losses negatively impact societies and economies, and pathogen toxins can also sicken humans if crops are consumed with high toxin levels.

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58 views

Losses Due To Plant Pathogens

This document discusses plant pathogens and the losses they cause globally and in important crops. [1] Major diseases worldwide include rice blast and rusts in wheat, while epidemics have historically caused famines through late blight in potatoes and rusts in wheat. [2] Pathogens like fungi, bacteria, viruses, viroids, nematodes and insects are responsible for 10-40% crop losses annually. [3] These losses negatively impact societies and economies, and pathogen toxins can also sicken humans if crops are consumed with high toxin levels.

Uploaded by

keerthi vasan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LECTURE 2

CAUSES AND LOSSES DUE TO PLANT PATHOGENS

Losses due to plant pathogens:

Losses due to plant pathogen varies according to their severity. About 15-25% crop
loss is due to pest, diseases and weeds. Globally, 10 to 40% crop loss of major crop occur due
to pathogens and pests. Among them, 10-28% yield loss in wheat, 25-41% in rice, 20-41% of
maize,8-21%of potato, 11-32% of soybean, etc. Pathogens like, fungi, bacteria, virus, viroids,
nematodes, phytoplasma, and insect pests are the causes of yield loss (Nature, Ecology and
Evolution, 2019).

The major disease that leads to crop loss worldwide are,


• Rice – sheath blight, stem borers, blast, brown spot, and bacterial blight.
• Wheat – Leaf rust, stripe rust, spot blotch, tan blotch, powdery mildew, Fusarium head
blight, scab, and blotch.
• Maize- Fusarium stalk rot, northern leaf blight, Fusarium ear rots, anthracnose, stalk
rot, southern rust, etc
• Potato – late blight, brown rot, early blight
• Soybean – white mold, soybean rust, cercospora blight, brown spot, charcoal rot, etc.

Important epidemics and famines:

➢ Late blight of potato – Phytophthora


infestans resulted in Irish famine in 1845,
destroying the potato crop, which was their
staple food. Thousands of people started
migrating to other countries. Population of
the country (Ireland) was reduced to 4
million from 8 million. This was the disease
that brought plant pathology into limelight.
Figure: symptoms of late blight of potato in
leaves and lesions on tubers.

➢ Wheat rust – Wheat rust has become severe and infection started spreading globally.
Farmers changed their cropping pattern from wheat to maize or rye.
➢ 1854 – Powdery mildew of grapes caused by Uncinula necator lead to 80% yield loss
in wine production.
➢ 1867- Hemileia vastatrix caused coffee rust in Sri Lanka, after which the entire
plantation of coffee was destructed and replanted with tea.
➢ 1878- Downy mildew of grapes caused by Plasmopara viticola lead to the discovery of
Bordeaux mixture.
➢ 1943- Brown spot of rice caused by Helminthosporium oryzae resulted in Bengal
famine. Millions of people died out of starvation.

Indian Scenario:
• Wheat rust epidemics caused a yield loss of more than Rs. 400 crore – Rs. 5000 crore
• Loose smut pf wheat caused a yield loss of almost 3 percent (Rs. 500 crore)
• Other important disease that reduces the yield drastically are- potato viruses, mosaic
and root rot of cucurbits, apple scab, bunchy top of banana, mango malformation, soft
rot of vegetables.

Effect on society:
Most of the pathogens, secrete different types of toxins during pathogenesis. These
toxins (eg: fumonosins, aflatoxins, etc) are harmful to humans (insanity, paralysis, stomach
disorder, hallucination, liver cancer, etc.) when used at high concentration. Most of the
perishable produces losses at the time of transit and storage. Due to over usage of chemical
fungicides for the management of plant diseases, most of the produces are not exported due
to the residue.

Causes of plant diseases:


Plant diseases are caused by infectious (animate / pathogens) and non-infectious (in-animate
/ abiotic factors) agents.

Biotic (Animate) factors:


The word pathogen is broadly divided as any agent or factor that incites disease / pathos in
any organism.
• Diseases caused by fungi: powdery mildew, downy mildew, rust, smut, etc.

Powdery mildew of cucurbits Coffee rust


• Diseases caused by bacteria: soft rot of vegetables, apple fire blight, bacterial wilt, tip
over, etc

Soft rot of vegetables fire blight of apple

• Diseases caused by phytoplasma: little leaf of brinjal, tomato big bud, etc.

Little leaf of brinjal Tomato big bud

• Diseases caused by fastidious vascular bacterium: Pierce disease of grapevine.

Abiotic (inanimate) factor:


They include excess / deficiency of nutrients, atmospheric impurities, soil pH, light, air,
moisture, etc. Eg:
• Black tip of mango- SO2 toxicity
• Whiptail of cauliflower – Mo deficiency
• Hollow or black heart of potato – CO2 storage
• Bitter pits of apple – Ca deficiency

Mesobiotic agents:
These area agents which are neither living or non-living.
Virus: These are agents which are made up of nucleic acid (either RNA or DNA but never both)
and a protein coat. Examples: Banana bunchy top disease, Potato leaf roll, Citrus tristeza,
Papaya ring spot virus, Tomato spotted wit disease, etc.
Papaya ring spot disease Banana bunchy top Tomato spotted wilt

Viroids: They are naked infectious strands of nucleic acid (nucleic acid without protein coat).
Eg: Potato spindle tuber, citrus exocortis, chrysanthemum stunt, etc.

Potato spindle tuber Citrus exocortis Chrysanthemum stunt

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