Introductory Plant Pathology

3(2-1)

Introduction, History and Importance of

Plant Pathology
Dr. Safdar Ali
Dr. Amer Habib

Department of Plant Pathology

University of Agriculture Faisalabad
 Plant Pathology:
It is the study of microorganisms and of environmental factors that cause
disease in plants; the mechanism by which these induce disease in plants and
methods of preventing or controlling the disease.
Pathogen:
Any organism or micro-organism which lives, feeds and multiplies on host
and also cause disease is called pathogen.
Parasite:
Any organism which lives feeds and multiplies on host but could not cause
disease.

Disease: It is a physiological disorder or structural abnormality that affects the

quality and quantity of the produce

A Plant Pathologist attempts to improve the

chances
for survival of plants
Plant Pathology is a demanding subject
with many aligned sciences
Worldwide annual Crop losses 36.5%

10.2 % is due to insects

14.1 % is due to diseases

12.2 % is due to weeds

 Concept of disease in plants
 Disease in plants can be defined as:
 The series of invisible and visible responses of plant cells and tissues to a
pathogenic microorganism or environmental factor that result in adverse
changes in the form, function, or integrity of the plant and may lead to
partial impairment or death of plant parts or of the entire plant.
 In some disease, hyperplasia or hypertrophy occur to produce abnormal
amorphous overgrowths (tumors) or abnormal organs.
 Types of plant diseases
 leaf spot, blight, canker, damping-off, dieback, mosaic, rot, scab, shot
hole, vascular wilt, downy mildew, powdery mildew, rust, smut, gray
mold, anthracnose, chlorosis, stunting, blast, gall
The Disease Triangle

Amount of Disease

Total of conditions favoring susceptibility

Host
Mazz’s Disease Pyramid

 The interaction of components of plant

disease can be expanded to include time
and humans.
 Time is often considered as the fourth
component of plant disease
development.
 The human equation can affect the three
components of the disease triangle and
should be considered as a fifth
component in disease development.
 Disease Development
 Every infectious disease requires a series of sequential events in
order for disease to develop
 Specific characteristics are unique for each disease.
 General events are:
1. dispersal of the pathogen to the host
2. penetration and infection of the host
3. invasion and colonization of the host
4. reproduction of the pathogen
5. pathogen dispersal
6. pathogen survival between growing seasons and/or
in the absence of a host
 Bacterial
Leaf Blight
of Rice

Gram Current Decline

Blight, Phytopathological of Fruit &
CLCuV threats in Pakistan Forest
Plants

Rusts of
Wheat
 Further Disciplines in Plant Pathology

Plant Diagnostic
Plant Virology Plant
Nematology
Pathology

Plant
Pathology

Molecular
Plant
Plant
Bacteriology
Plant Pathology
Mycology
 Plant Diseases in historical perspective

1845

late blight of potato caused starvation in Ireland

1942

Brown leaf spot of rice caused Bengal Famine

1992
Cotton leaf curl virus caused 80% reduction in
Pakistan
 HISTORY OF PLANT PATHOLOGY
o The history of Plant Pathology is as old as human
civilization
o Homer (1000 B.C.) mentioned therapeutic
properties of sulphur on plant diseases
o Democritus (470 B.C.) controlled the blights by
sprinkling plants with olive oil
o Theophrastus (300 B.C.), a pupil of Aristotle, father
of Botany. He believed that God controlled the
weather that “brought about” the diseases. He
considered plant diseases as the wrath of God, so
these can be avoided if people do things that
please the God.
o Spores of wheat rust fungus observed under
compound microscope for the first time
(Leeuwenhoek, 1667)

o Tillet (1755) in France reduced number of smut

wheat plants by treating seed with copper
sulphate before planting

o De-Bary (1861) proved that a fungus

(Phytophthora infestans) is the cause of late
blight of potato
o Needham (1743) observed nematodes in wheat
galls for the first time and root-knot nematode in
cucumber root galls
o Pasteur and Koch (1876) first time showed that
anthrax is caused by a bacterium and first plant
bacterium was discovered in 1885

o In 1886, Mayer reproduced the ‘Tobacco Mosaic’

disease by injecting juice from infected tobacco
plants into healthy tobacco plants
 Disease Management

o In 1600s farmers used brine (sodium chloride solution) to

control the bunt of wheat
o In mid 1700s, sodium chloride was replaced with copper
sulphate
o In early 1800s, lime-sulphur and aqueous suspensions of
sulphur were recommended for the control of mildew of fruit
trees
o In 1885, Millardet discovered the magical Bordeaux Mixture for
the of downy mildew of grapes in France
o In 1913, organic mercurial compounds
o In 1965, the first systemic fungicide ‘carboxin’
o Antibiotics, primarily streptomycin, were first used
to control plant diseases in 1950
o Flemming (1928) used Penicillium notatum as
biocontrol
o late 1980s, genetic engineering was introduced
Tissue culture, GMOs
o In the early 1990s, non-toxic chemicals called
plant defense activators were synthesized which
activate the plant defense system
The major objectives of plant pathology

o To study the causes (biotic & abiotic) of plant

diseases

o To study the mechanism of plant disease

development

o To study the interaction between plant and

pathogen in relation to environment and time

o To develop effective system of management of

plant diseases to minimize the losses
 IMPORTANCE OF MICRO-ORGANISMS
VIRUSES
Harmful aspects
o Cotton leaf curl disease is caused by CLCuV
o Tobacco mosaic disease is caused by TMV
o Tomato Mosaic Disease is caused by ToMV
o Sugarcane mosaic disease is caused by ScMV
Beneficial aspects
o Used to kill insects as bio control agents
o Used in genetic engineering
o Colour breaking agent in ornamental plants
 BACTERIA
Harmful aspects:

o Xanthomonas axonopodis causes canker disease in citrus

o Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight of pear and apples
o Soft rot of vegetables caused by Erwinia carotovora

Beneficial aspects:

o Used as a vector in genetic engineering

o Used for fermentation process (milk to yogurt )
o Important for symbiosis process e.g. Rhizobium
o Used for antibiotic preparation e.g. Streptomyces
o Used in transgenic cotton (Bt. Cotton)
NEMATODES
Harmful aspects:
 Economic losses due to diseases
 Causes citrus decline in citrus
 Wheat ear cockle and root-knot disease is caused
by nematodes
Beneficial aspects:
 Used to control insects by biological method
 Improve soil fertility
 FUNGI
Harmful aspects:
 Destroy Leather, paper, timber and textile industry
 Food industry specially pickles and pasteurized foods
 Cause field crop diseases
 Poisonous mushrooms which called as death caps e.g. Amanita
spp.
Beneficial aspects:
 Used in fermentation e.g. yeast
 Edible as mushrooms
 Easy to handle for research purposes
 Antibiotic penicillin is formed from fungus penicillium
 Some beneficial fungi are helpful to fertile the soil
 Coelomyces used as biological control to kill mosquitoes