how can we control plant disease

Traditional Principles of Plant Disease Control

1. Avoidance—prevent disease by selecting a time of the year or a site where there is no inoculum or where the environment is not favorable for infection.
2. Exclusion—prevent the introduction of inoculum.
3. Eradication—eliminate, destroy, or inactivate the inoculum.
4. Protection—prevent infection by means of a toxicant or some other barrier to infection.

Full Answer

How can I prevent disease in my garden?

One of the most important things you can do to prevent disease is to select the right plant for the site—which is much easier than trying to manage a problem-plagued plant in an unsuitable site later.

What are the general strategies for management of plant diseases?

This is a list of the most important general strategies for management of plant diseases: 1 Crop Resistance - should be first line of defense whenever possible 2 Cultural Methods 3 Physical Methods 4 Pesticides 5 Regulation More ...

Why do plant diseases fail to be controlled?

Most diseases have a fairly well established control protocol. Most often, failure to control the disease happens because the problem was misdiagnosed in the first place. This is a list of the most important general strategies for management of plant diseases: Crop Resistance - should be first line of defense whenever possible

How do you get rid of fungal diseases in your garden?

This stagnant environment is perfect for many fungal diseases. Try pruning out excess branches, dividing large plants, or transplanting problem plants to an area with better air circulation. Insect pests, with their chewing and burrowing, are annoying enough to deal with.

How can diseases be controlled in plants?

A variety of chemicals are available that have been designed to control plant diseases by inhibiting the growth of or by killing the disease-causing pathogens. Chemicals used to control bacteria (bactericides), fungi (fungicides), and nematodes (nematicides) may be applied to seeds, foliage, flowers, fruit, or soil.

What is the best method for controlling plant disease?

Using resistant varieties is the most efficient way of controlling vegetable diseases. Make an effort to buy resistant varieties when they are available. Seed catalogs generally list resistant traits of the various vegetable varieties. The selection of planting date can be an effective tool for disease management.

What are the methods of disease control?

These measures include:Hand Washing.Infection control standard, contact, droplet and airborne precautions.Procedures for decontamination of persons and disinfection of equipment and the environment.Quarantine of contacts (if necessary)Prophylaxis of exposed individuals.Control of the vectors of infection.

Why do we need to control plant disease?

The goal of plant disease management is to reduce the economic and aesthetic damage caused by plant diseases. Traditionally, this has been called plant disease control, but current social and environmental values deem “control” as being absolute and the term too rigid.

What is physical control of plant diseases?

The physical agents used most commonly in controlling plant diseases are: i) Temperature (high or low) ii) Dry air. iii) Unfavourable light wavelengths. iv) Various types of radiations.

What is disease control?

Control: The reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity or mortality to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts; continued intervention measures are required to maintain the reduction.

What are the four general principles of plant disease control?

The six fundamental principles of disease management are exclusion, eradication, protection, resistance, therapy, and avoidance of insect vectors and weed hosts.

Is the simplest method of disease control?

Hand washing with soap and water is the simplest and one of the most effective ways to prevent transmission of many communicable diseases (Figure 2.5). The times when hands must be washed are indicated in Box 2.4.

What are the 3 methods of infection control?

Hand hygiene. Use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, eyewear). Respiratory hygiene / cough etiquette.

What are the 4 types of diseases?

There are four main types of disease: infectious diseases, deficiency diseases, hereditary diseases (including both genetic diseases and non-genetic hereditary diseases), and physiological diseases.

What are the four ways of controlling communicable diseases?

As well as maintaining good general health, there are some basic actions that everyone can take to stop the spread of infectious diseases:Immunise against infectious diseases.Wash and dry your hands regularly and well.Stay at home if you are sick.Cover coughs and sneezes.Clean surfaces regularly.Ventilate your home.More items...•

What are the 3 types of prevention?

Primary Prevention—intervening before health effects occur, through.Secondary Prevention—screening to identify diseases in the earliest.Tertiary Prevention—managing disease post diagnosis to slow or stop.

What is plant disease?

Plant disease is “anything that prevents the plant from performing to its maximum potential.” We classify plant diseases as either abiotic or non-infectious diseases and biotic or infectious diseases.

What are the diseases that plants can get?

In this section, find information on plant disease identification and control, including rot, freeze damage, rust, blight, mold, scales, bacteria, viruses, fungus, wilt, mildew, gall, mites, moths, and cankers. You’ll also find tips on integrated pest management and herbicide summaries.

What are abiotic diseases?

Abiotic diseases are those caused by external conditions rather than living agents. These diseases are not infectious and include nutritional deficiencies, salt injury, ice, sun scorch, or soil compaction.

Why is it important to diagnose plant health?

Being able to quickly and accurately diagnose plant health gives you the best possible chance to solve any issues before losing the plant.

What is the fungus that attacks apples?

The white rot fungus, Botryosphaeria dothidea, often referred to as "Bot rot" or Botryosphaeria rot, is most important on apple trees, but it also attacks crabapple, pear, grape, and chestnut.

Why is it important to know the correct diagnosis of a plant disease?

Most diseases have a fairly well established control protocol. Most often, failure to control the disease happens because the problem was misdiagnosed in the first place.

What is tolerance in plants?

Tolerance refers to varieties or cultivars that appear to be just as heavily diseased as standard varieties, but which manage to be more productive or vigorous.

How to disinfect pruning shears?

This photo shows pruning shears being disinfected (a better word is disinfested) by immersion in a chemical. A good disinfectant is 10% Clorox or bleach (10 ml household bleach to 90 ml water). Isopropyl alcohol from the drugstore also works well. When pruning out diseased plant material, it is best to disinfest after each pruning operation. Also, make cuts several inches beyond diseased tissue in healthy tissue to make sure you get all of the pathogens.

What are the benefits of mulching?

Of course, there are many benefits to be gained from mulching, including weed control, soil moisture optimization, and soil temperature moderation. But mulches can serve as a barrier between above-ground plant parts and pathogens in the soil.

What plants are rust resistant?

You can see rust resistant snapdragons, VFN (Verticillim wilt, Fusarium wilt, nematode - resistant) tomato and mildew-resistant (powdery mildew) zinnia.

What is resistance in agriculture?

Resistance, strictly speaking, refers to the lower disease levels seen in some cultivars or varieties of a particular crop species compared to other susceptible cultivars. Always choose resistant varieties when available.

Should crop resistance be first line of defense?

Crop Resistance - should be first line of defense whenever possible

Why is watering plants bad?

Excessive watering results in poor overall root function and greater susceptibility to root rot diseases. And if you water in a way that keeps moisture on a plant's leaves for long periods, you may be encouraging infection by foliar pathogens.

Why do plants need so little water?

Soil type and weather conditions also come into play. Too little water can stress plants, making them more susceptible to disease organisms such as canker fungi.

What are the problems with white pine?

Every plant has a profile of characteristic disease problems that develop in a particular area. Many plants are also sensitive to environmental conditions. White pine is highly sensitive to roadside salt spray, and sugar maples decline when highway salt concentrates in surrounding soils . Broad-leaved evergreens such as rhododendrons and mahonias suffer desiccation and leaf scorch when exposed to drying winter winds.

How to prevent black spot in roses?

Another approach is to exclude pathogens. Removing blighted potato tubers from the garden at the end of the season limits the amount of fungal inoculum (pathogen tissue responsible for causing infection) available for the next season. Cleaning up black-spotted rose leaves in the fall reduces the amount of black spot fungal inoculum. Or you can adopt cultural practices that make the environment less conducive to infection. If you avoid overhead watering, for example, you discourage infection by foliar pathogens that thrive on damp leaves.

How to learn about soil pH?

What is currently growing there? What plants are thriving on nearby, similar sites? Learn what parts of your garden drain poorly. Observe the site at different times to understand the sun and wind exposures. You can learn a great deal about the general soil pH range by noting how acid-loving plants such as pachysandra, rhododendrons, and red maple fare in your garden and nearby areas.

Can holly plants tolerate wet soil?

Many people say, for example, that hollies will not tolerate wet, poorly drained sites. This is indeed true of American holly ( Ilex opaca) or the Meserve blue and China series hybrids ( Ilex x meserveae ), which are quite susceptible to black root rot disease in wet sites. It is not true of the deciduous winterberry holly ( Ilex verticillata ), which thrives in swampy sites.

Can fungi be prevented before they start?

Even fungicides are a form of prevention because most must be applied before infectious agents arrive. Here are nine key ways to prevent diseases before they start.

How to keep diseases out of garden?

This is an easy way to keep diseases out of your garden: make sure you're not bringing them in with new plants! Before you bring plants home from the nursery, check to make sure they're healthy. If you see signs of fungal diseases or insects, or lots of yellowing or wilting foliage, take a pass.

Why is it important to clean your garden?

Good sanitation includes picking up plant debris, trimming away dying or unhealthy stems and branches, and keeping weeds to a minimum. Foliage or stems leftover from diseased plants can result in having to deal with those same diseases ...

Why do you plant vegetables in the same spot year after year?

Planting vegetables in the same spots year after year practically guarantees that fungal diseases and other pests that overwinter in the soil will give you headaches all season long. It's helpful to know the different vegetable families, and how to rotate them in your garden.

Why are my plants getting black spots?

Fungal diseases like powdery mildew and black spot are more likely to be a problem if your plants have poor air circulation. If they are planted too closely together, or against a wall, they don't get enough airflow. This stagnant environment is perfect for many fungal diseases.

Why do plants get wet overnight?

Many fungal diseases need damp, cool environments to thrive. So if our plants' foliage is wet overnight, that gives these diseases a chance to really get a good start in our gardens. The easiest way to prevent this is to water as early in the day as possible so that your plants can dry off before nightfall.

Why do we need mulch?

Mulches are useful for maintaining soil moisture and keeping weeds down, but they are also very helpful in helping us keep our gardens disease-free. Mulch prevents soil that is infested with soil-borne fungi from splashing up onto the plants' foliage.

Is fertilizer good for plants?

That is, fertilize just enough to keep plants healthy, and no more than that. Over-fertilizing often leads to more problems, because then your plants put out lots of weak, fresh growth that is attractive to pests and diseases. The right amount of organic fertilizer (or regular applications of compost or composted manure) will help your plants stay healthy. Healthy plants are better able to fend off diseases.

How to stop powdery mildew on plants?

How to stop powdery mildew: Make a mixture of milk and water (30% milk to 70% water is fine) and spray it evenly on the surface of the leaves of affected plants during the morning on a sunny day. Any type of milk will work: skim or whole.

How does gut flora affect health?

the trillions of microorganisms in and on you that play a wide range of roles in keeping you healthy and alive. If your gut flora is out of balance, it can have profound impacts on your physical and even psychological health.

What does "healthy soil" mean?

When we say “healthy soil” we simply mean soil that has all the biological lifeforms present to:

Why do we rotate crops?

Crop rotation is planting different crop plant species in the same plot in subsequent years to prevent the buildup of pests and pathogens that prefer certain types of plants. The years between replanting and the types of cropping systems used can vary.

Why is it important to understand the foundation of an organic garden?

Likewise, it’s important for you to understand that the foundation of any organic garden or farm is the health of its soil. Without healthy soil, trying to grow plants will be a never-ending battle of treating symptoms.

Do tomatoes have foliar diseases?

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of bacterial, fungal, or viral foliar diseases that LOVE tomatoes, so we’re not going to bother to get too specific here.

Can you grow tomatoes in the summer without leaf disease?

If you live in the hot humid south like we do, it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll get through a whole summer without seeing some type of foliar (leaf) disease on your tomato plants. This is especially true if you’ve been growing tomatoes for more than a year without “crop rotation.”

Why Are Plant Diseases Important?

Usually, farmers are worried about the financial losses that plant diseases can cause because of reduced quantity and/or quality of the product. For example, in 1970 U.S. farmers lost $1 billion to an epidemic of southern corn leaf blight. Disease epidemics can also threaten entire plant species. Historical examples of destructive plant disease epidemics include American chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease (Agrios 1997).

What is plant disease?

A plant disease is a dynamic process where a living or nonliving entity interferes with the normal functions of a plant over a period of time.

How Do Pathogens Cause Disease?

Pathogens use a number of different strategies to enter their host and capture the plant's energy for their own use. Some enter through natural openings or wounds created by mechanical damage or from severe weather events (i.e., hail, wind-swept sand). Others, such as some fungi or nematodes, can directly penetrate through the plant tissue, while viruses rely primarily on insects for transmission. Once inside the plant, some pathogens use enzymes that break down the tissue of the plant just like the enzymes in our stomachs break down food. Others have toxins that actually kill the plant tissue before the enzymes break it down. Still others secrete hormones that change the way the plant grows. For example, the hormones may tell the plant to move more nutrients to the area where the pathogen is lodged. All viruses and a few bacteria force the plant to produce pathogen gene products. Since the plant is putting most of its energy into making more viruses, the cells starve (Miles and Brown 2007).

What is the effect of feeding a plant?

Feeding either kills the plant cells, leading to the development of lesions, or causes galls to develop on the roots, reducing the ability of the plant to take up water and nutrients. Microscopic worms called nematodes can attack plant roots. Root knot nematode affects lettuce (pictured above), tomatoes, carrots (pictured on p.

How do fungi get into plants?

They can be spread by infected seed or from plant to plant by water splashing, insects, and humans. Fungi form chains of cells.

What are abiotic problems?

Abiotic problems. are caused by adverse extremes in the environment, such as nutrient deficiency, prolonged water stress, and air pollution. Some bacterial diseases, like bacterial wilt (above), affect the phloem of plants, clogging the tubes that move water and nutrients. Photo courtesy of Beth Gugino.

How do insects live in plants?

Typically transmitted by insects during feeding, they live in the plant sap and clog up the vascular system , reducing the ability of the plant to move water or nutrients. A typical symptom is phyllody, the production of leaflike structures instead of flowers, or a witch's broom or bushy appearance.

What are the principles of plant disease control?

Traditional Principles of Plant Disease Control. Avoidance—prevent disease by selecting a time of the year or a site where there is no inoculum or where the environment is not favorable for infection. Exclusion—prevent the introduction of inoculum. Eradication—eliminate, destroy, or inactivate the inoculum.

How to make the conceptual leap from disease control to disease management?

To make the conceptual leap from disease control to disease management, the traditional principles can be modified by fitting them as tactics within each of the three major disease management strategies and by slightly changing the wording to reflect the quantitative impact of the action rather than an absolute effect:

How are plant diseases classified?

Plant disease epidemics can be classified into two basic types, monocyclic and polycyclic, depending on the number of infection cycles per crop cycle. (See: The Cyclical Nature of Plant Disease .) The early stages of a monocyclic epidemic can be described quite well by a linear model, while the early stages of a polycyclic epidemic can be described with an exponential model. Since we are concerned with keeping disease levels well below 100%, there is no need to adjust the models for approaching the upper limit, and we can use the simple linear and exponential models to plan strategies:

Why are farmers evolving practices?

Since the beginning of agriculture, generations of farmers have been evolving practices for combating the various plagues suffered by our crops. Following our discovery of the causes of plant diseases in the early nineteenth century, our growing understanding of the interactions of pathogen and host has enabled us to develop a wide array of measures for the control of specific plant diseases.

Which has a greater effect on the epidemic than reducing x0?

Reducing r has a relatively greater effect on the epidemic than reducing x0.

Do different diseases differ in their dynamics?

Furthermore, considering that different diseases differ in their dynamics, they do not indicate the relative effectiveness of the various tactics for the control of a particular disease. They also fail to show how the different disease control measures interact in their effects on disease dynamics.

Is it possible to get zero seed infection?

Despite the frequent use of the term "disease-free seed", zero infection is impossible, and so in any seed certification program it is necessary to establish an acceptable level of seed infection. Without getting into sampling error and sensitivity of the seed assay, which, of course, are important considerations, we can calculate the maximum allowable seed infection very roughly using our knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease (s) in question.

Plant Disease Control

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