Introduction and History of Plant Pathology
Plant Pathology is a practical discipline which focuses on the study of the diseases of plants, disease causing organisms, the mechanisms by which they cause disease and ways to manage or control these diseases and minimize the damage caused to plants. Every year around 40 percent of world food is lost due to disease, post-harvest losses, insects and weeds. And out of these around 14.1 percent losses are due to plant diseases. This ratio may seem small but the losses account about 220 billion US dollars annually (according to a 2003 survey). Root galls due to nematode infection Plant Disease is defined as the deviation from normal physiological functioning of the plants. Plants perform poorly in term of both growth and production when diseased. Symptoms are the visible manifestations of the disease. Diseases are caused in plant due to a number of living organisms and environmental factors. We will discuss about the types of diseases and disease causing organism later, here will t...