Plant Diseases

• A disease is defined as any type of

injurious abnormality
• A pathogen is any biological agent that
causes an injurious abnormality
 Plant diseases
• There are 4 types of commonly recognized
pathogens
– Virus
– Bacteria
– Fungi
– nematodes
 Signs and Symptoms
• Symptom is the plants response to
attack by a pathogen
• Sign is structures produced by the
organism ( spore producing structures,
mycelium)
 Virus

Tobacco Mosaic Virus

TMV
TMV
 Virus symptoms
• Unthrifty plants
– Slow to grow
– Mosaic light spots and stripes
Aster Yellows
Acts like a virus but is a mycoplasma
 Virus indexing
• If you are buying cloned plants they will
often say Virus Indexed.
• That means they are tested and proven to
be virus free.
• very important when buying raspberry
plants or strawberry plants
Bacteria- fire blight
Fire Blight
 Bacterial symptoms
• Rapid spread, can be spread by wind or
insects,humans
• Soft rots producing snotty oooz
• Can be really smelly
 Fungi

Botrytis – Grey Mold

Fungus
 Fungus
• Signs: mycelium, fruiting bodies
• Symptoms: necrotic areas, wilt when
fungus attacks the roots
• Phloem blockage, xylem blockage
Nematodes
• Root Knot Nematode
 Nematodes
• Feed on roots and allow secondary
infections
• Cause small tumors on roots
• Damage to plants by fungi bacteria and
nematodes can be classified in 3 types
– Direct damage by feeding
– Toxins injected into the plant
– From secondary infections that enter via the
physical damage caused by the primary agent
 Crop infesting diseases are
troublesome because they will
continue to reproduce and feed
UNTIL

• 1. The food is used up

• 2. the environment becomes unfavorable
• 3. they are destroyed by some predator/
disease
 Disease transmission
• Water is necessary for fungus infection
• Insects
• Humans
• Infected seed
• Infected soil – brought in on shoes or
tractor tires
 Curing or avoiding plant disease?
• Any of the previous factors can be interrupted
• Cultural control
– Roguing, sanitation, plowing plant refuse under,
stirring the soil to expose egg masses, keep plants
healthy, avoid smoking, regulate pH, hot water
treatment of seed,
• Chemical control
What are those letters?
• · V Verticillium Wilt Virus
• · F Fusarium Wilt Virus
• · N Nematodes
• · T, TMV, ToMV Tomato Mosaic Virus
• · BSK Bacterial Speck
• · ST Stemphyllium (Grey Leaf Spot)
• · FCR Fusarium Crown Rot