This book is about how plants get diseases, from the origins and evolution of parasites to how the great plant epidemics developed. The basic premise of the book is that the conditions favouring disease are inherent in agriculture and that diseases become destructive because of human activities. It also deals with how people have dealt with plant diseases in history. Included in the book are the natural histories of some of the most damaging plant diseases, worldwide, with discussions of why each became destructive. Diseases are grouped according to the most significant factors in the development of epidemics: in every case this is due to a human factor. Discussion of each model disease proceeds from observable facts to more complex concepts; thus, the reader with little knowledge of plant pathology should find the book easily understandable.

This book introduces the nature, causes and impact of plant diseases. It briefly describes the history of plant pathology as a scientific discipline and introduces the disease cycle as the key tool for understanding disease development and devising appropriate management strategies. It addresses the mechanisms of pathogenicity and immunity. It explores the biology of the interactions between plants and plant pathogens from the cellular level to the population level, with the chapter addressing epidemiology. The book then concerns the approaches we can take to alleviate the effects of plant pathogens. Print edition not for sale in India.

• The book is revised according to the latest UGC syllabus and caters to graduate and postgraduate students of all Indian Universities.The book is also used to serve as a laboratory manual. • The matter is presented in simple langauge with well-illustrated and self-explanatory diagrams and photographs. • A new chapter on Biopesticides in Disease Management has been added. • Multicoloured photographs showing symptoms of various plant diseases have been included.

Significance of plant disease in agriculture; Types of plant disease: fungi; Diseases caused by basidiomycetes: rusts; Diseases caused by basidiomycetes: smuts; Diseases caused by basidiomycetes: fleshy fungi; mycorrhizae; Diseases caused by ascomycetes; Diseases caused by imperfect fungi; Diseases caused by phycomycetes and related fungi; Damping-off and related troubles; Diseases caused by bacteria; Diseases caused by viruses; Diseases caused by parasitic seed plants and algae; epiphytes; Diseases caused by nematodes or eelworms; Physiogenic diseases; The methods of studying plant diseases; Environment and parasitic disease; Etiology and epiphytology of disease; Principles and procedures in the control of plant diseases; control of plant diseases by regulation; Control of plant disease by inducing resistance; Control of plant diseases by cultural methods.

Plant Pathology: An Advanced Treatise, Volume I: The Diseased Plant presents an integrated synthesis of the scope, importance, and history of plant pathology, emphasizing the concept of disease, not of diseases. The book focuses on pathological processes, defense devices, predisposition, and therapy of the diseased plant. It explores the normal pathways that are obstructed in sick plants; how the pathogen causes dysfunction; and how the host plant reacts to the pathogen. This book also considers the logistics and the strategy of disease and how to combat it. This volume is organized into 15 chapters and begins with an overview of plant pathology, its history, and its relation to other sciences, along with plant predisposition to disease, and the resistance-susceptibility problem. The next chapters examine how sickness in plants is recognized and diagnosed, the tissue breakdown in diseases, and the effects of parasites on the processes in plants. The impact of disease on water balance and respiration in plants and the histology of disease resistance in plants are also explained. This volume also covers the physiological and chemical basis of defense by higher plants against potential or invading pathogens and the hypersensitivity concept in plant pathology. The final chapter discusses the physical and chemical therapy of the diseased plant. This book will appeal to all who are interested in a theoretical treatment of plant pathology and in the broad ecological relationships among organisms, as well as to research workers and advanced students of applied biology.

Disease in plants; Plant pathology and the diseased plant; Prologue to part I: the nature and consequences of disease in plants; An introduction to the principles of plant pathology; Morphological symptoms of disease in plants; Infectious agents of disease in plants; Viruses and viroids as plant pathogens; Plant-pathogenic prokaryotes; Plant-pathogenic fungi, algae, and seed plants; Plant-pathogenic protozoans, nematodes, and insects; Cyclic events that culminate in plant disease; Production and dispersal of the inocula of plant pathogens, Penetration of plants by pathogens; Infection and disease in plants; Controlling disease in populations of plants; The epidemiology of plant diseases; Plant-disease control by reducing amounts of inocula; Plant-disease control by reducing rates of disease development; Epilogue to part I: plant pathology as a science of plant-pest control; Diseases of plants; Prolegue to part II: how diseases disrupt the vital functions of plants; Rots of plant products; Blights of seedlings; Rots of the roots of plants in the field; Bacterial and fungal gall diseases of plants; Smut fungi and plant diseases they cause; Nematode-induced diseases of plants; Vascular-wilt diseases in plants; Bacterial spots and blights of foliage; Fungal spots and blights of foliage; Downy-mildew fungi and plant diseases they cause; Powdery-mildew fungi and plant diseases they cause; Rust fungi and plant diseases they cause; Plant diseases caused by viruses and mycoplasmalike organisms; Plant diseases with noninfectious causes; Epilogue to part II: chronology and practice of plant-disease control; Techniques for diagnosis of plant diseases; Use of the literature of plant pathology.

Between 1845 and 1851 one and a half million Irish men, women and children died in misery from starvation and disease; the result of potato blight, a fungal disease that destroyed their potato crops. A million more people, driven to despair by the succession of appalling harvests, emigrated, mostly to America. So it was that a plant disease changed the course of history, its economic effects causing not only social but also major political upheaval.

Why biological control. Developmental history of biological control ofplant pathologens. Components of biological control. Approaches to biological control. The pathologen in biological control. The host and biological control. The soil ecosystem and biological control. Introduction of antagonists for biological control. Antagonistae vitae. Agricultural practices and biologial control. Perspectives.