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.

Discussing the range of effects of pesticides on food and human safety, water quality, wildlife, and pest management, this book explores the agricultural, economic, and regulatory factors that affect pesticide use. It examines crop and pest ecology, integrated pest management principles, and emerging analytical tools to improve the efficacy and cost-efficiency of pest control. Expert contributions describe the current status of pesticides issues and those related to pest management. The book summarizes advances and trends in the crop protection industry, such as integrated pest management, hybrid seed and generic pesticide production, improved pesticide formulations, and plant biotechnology.

This book attempts to provide to provide concise, critical, synthetic and up-to-date coverage of different aspects of plant disease management. The first eleven chapters are devoted to principles and related aspects and the remining seven to management practices based on them. The book attempts to capture some of the images of such rapidly expanding fields as host-parasite recognition and biotechnology even at the risk of making the subject a bit conceptual. This book is intended to serve as a text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of plant pathology and related disciplines and as a reference source for teachers, researchers, students, and technologists.

Prevent agricultural loss with natural disease controls that don’t harm the environment—or the people who live in it Despite the worldwide use of chemicals and pesticides to control the devastating effects of plant disease, the international agribusiness market still suffers extensive economic losses each year. Biological Control of Plant Diseases offers natural alternatives to the synthetic fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides that have not only failed to stop pests and pathogens, but have raised serious safety and environmental concerns. The world’s leading plant pathologists examine the use of antagonistic microorganisms, inherent resistance, and natural fungicides for plant protection that’s safe, economical, and effective. Biological Control of Plant Diseases presents up-to-date research findings on disease management to provide you with a single-source reference text for developing a sustainable ecosystem that doesn’t depend on harmful and unhealthy agrochemicals. This unique book acts as a catalyst for change, presenting fresh ideas and innovative strategies for finding meaningful solutions to the problems of disease control. Contributors working in the areas of plant protection, microbiology, plant pathology, biotechnology, ecology, and food safety examine topics that include the application of plant tissue culture, competitive root colonization, mycorrhiza in biocontrol, microbial siderophores, antagonism, and genetic regulation. Topics addressed in Biological Control of Plant Diseases include: soil-borne pathogens rhizobacteria organic acids white rot Trichoderma and Agrobacterium phyllosphere manure-based microbes gray mold disease major fungal diseases mycoparasitism microbial chitinases and much more Biological Control of Plant Diseases is an invaluable reference resource for extension scientists and academics working in botany, biology, entomology, ecology, agriculture, horticulture, plant pathology, and the environmental sciences.