PLANT PATHOGENS

M O D U L E 2

Crop Protection 1

JAYDEELYN F. DACER-AQUINO
 GENERAL OBJECTIVES

01 02 03 02 05
Basic knowledge on PLANT Widen the knowledge to the biology,
DISEASES identification and ecology of the different group
of pathogens.
 Specific Objectives

01 02 03 04 05
Define and understand U n d e r s t a n d t h e Know the causes of Learn the variability Understand the
the science and art of c o n c e p t o f p l a n t plant diseases in plant pathogens plant disease cycle
plant pathology and its disease. and plant disease
historical development epidemiology
 Specific Objectives

06 07 08 09 05
Know the types, Understand how Learn the Comprehend the
sources, colonizationof the mechanism of mechanisms of
dissemination and suscept takes place pathogenicity and resistance
survival of host response
inoculum
 PLANT
PATHOLOGY
ü Science of plant diseases.
ü deals with the nature, causes, control and prevention and
01
all aspects of plant diseases
ü Also called “phytopathology”
phython – plant
pathos – suffering
logos – conversation (reason)
 What is a plant disease?

01
Any abnormal
condition that alters
the appearance or
Reduce yield and
function of a plant.
quality of
harvested
Physiological process
product.
that affects some or 03 02
all plant functions
A few examples of devastating
diseases are:
 Caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans

The fungus killed most of the

potatoes grown in Ireland during the
mid-1800s.

This plant disease resulted in the Irish

Potato Famine of 1845.
1 million people died
1.5 million people left Ireland
Caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea
The pathogen produces a
structure called a sclerotium that
grows in place of the rye kernel.
This sclerotium contains poisons
that are very harmful to man and
animals.
The sclerotium is harvested with
the rye grain. The grain is ground
into flour, made into bread and is
eaten by people. Eating the
contaminated bread results in a
disease called
1916 - Destroyed 300 million
bushels of wheat in the
United States and Canada
1935 - Destroyed 135 million
bushels in Dakotas and
Minnesota

SPORATIC EPIDEMICS STILL COST

NORTH
AMERICAN FARMERS BILLIONS OF
DOLLARS
 1970 - An epidemic
caused a 15% loss of the
U.S. corn crop. This
resulted in a one billion
dollar loss in the United
States.

This was enough corn that,

if fed to cattle,
it would make 30 BILLION
HAMBURGERS
 is caused by a
virus and is a very
A serious disease that
infects all stone fruit.
- It is estimated that
100 million stone fruit
trees are infected with
the virus in Europe.
 THE SCIENCE AND ART OF PLANT PATHOLOGY

SCIENCE ART
• biology of the pathogenic • diagnosis or recognizing
organisms particular diseases by their
symptoms and signs

• the mechanisms that pathogens • disease assessment and

use to cause disease forecasting

• interactions between pathogen • recommendation of appropriate

T

and host plant control measures

AR

• field application of suitable

control measure
What causes plant disease?

01
Infectious plant diseases are caused by living organisms that
attack and obtain their nutrition from the plant they infect.

02 A parasitic organism that causes a disease is a

pathogen

03
The plant invaded by the pathogen and serving as
its food source is referred to as a host.
 R o l e o f E n v i r o n m e n t

• A favorable environment is critically important for disease development –

even the most susceptible plants exposed to huge amounts of a pathogen
will not develop disease unless environmental conditions are favorable.

Temperature and Relative humidity, soil pH, soil

Moisture texture, light, and nutrient status
The Disease Triangle

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Host
The Disease Triangle
 TYPES OF
PATHOGENS
TYPES OF PATHOGENS
Fungi Bacteria

Viruses Nematodes
Groups of plant pathogens - fungi

• Vast majority are beneficial

• Can cause plant, human, and
livestock diseases
• Most cannot be seen without a
microscope
• Lack chlorophyll
• Composed of growing structure of
delicate, threadlike filaments
called hyphae
• Reproduce by forming spores
Groups of plant pathogens - bacteria

• Extremely small organism

requiring microscope to be seen
• Bacteria population can increase
in number in short time period
• Cells clump together in masses
called colonies
• Obtain food from dead or decaying
organic matter or living tissue

• Spread plant to plant by wind-driven rain

• Gain entrance through natural plant
openings or injuries
Groups of plant pathogens - viruses

• Most familiar because they cause human

and animal diseases such as influenza,
polio, rabies, smallpox, and warts
• Cause some destructive plant diseases
• Measure only about one-millionth of an
inch in size
• Are not complete living systems
• Survive only in living cells

• Transmitted by insects which are called

vectors
Groups of plant pathogens - nematodes

• Round, slender, threadlike worms

• Some are parasites on animals, insects,
fungi, other nematodes, and plants
• Plant-parasitic nematodes have a stylet
• Most live in the soil and feed in or on
plant roots
Disease cycle
 Comparison of disease cycles
Fungi Bacteria Viruses Nematodes
Survival Crop residue Crop residue - Crop residue
Soil Soil - Soil
Alt. hosts Alt. hosts Alt. hosts -
- Insect vectors Insect vectors -
Dispersal Wind Wind - Tillage
Rain Rain - Equipment
Insects Insects Insects Water run-off

Infection Directly - - Directly

Wounds Wounds - -
Insect feeding Insect feeding Insect feeding -
 Spread of inoculum
Two ways

1. Plant placed in soil that contains a pathogen

2. Inoculum moves from its source to host plant

Penetration of inoculum and infection
• Infection occurs when a pathogen successfully enters a plant and
grows, reproduces, and spreads within the plant
• Pathogens enter a host through natural openings, wounds on plant
surfaces, or by penetrating directly into the plant

Spore Mycelial Pustule

Penetration Sporulation
germination growth formation
 Secondary cycles
• Some diseases have only one cycle during the growing season
(often root rots)
• Some diseases develop secondary or repeating cycles during the
growing season (often foliar diseases)
• Number of cycles
depends on the
pathogen, susceptibility
of the host, and
environmental conditions
 Pathogen survival
Pathogens survive season to season in:

• Soil
• Crop residue
• Weed or noncrop hosts
• Seed or vegetative plant parts
• Insects
• Mild climates
 Summary
• Understanding the difference between a sign and a
symptom is key in identifying a plant disease
• A plant disease cannot develop if a susceptible host,
pathogen, and favorable environment do not occur
simultaneously
• The major plant pathogens responsible for disease
development in plants are fungi, bacteria, viruses, and
nematodes
• The disease cycle describes the interaction of the pathogen
with the host
 Other plant disease
potato late light Famine and death of more
disease than a million people in
Ireland in 1845-46

Downy mildew of destroyed the vineyards

grapes in France, Germany and
Italy

Ergot of rye grains caused hallucinations and

sometimes deadly illness
 Other plant diseases

Leaf blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae.

disease It causes wilting of seedlings and
yellowing and drying of leaves.

Coffee rust destroyed vast coffee

disease plantations

disease of coconut caused

losses of over two hundred
cadang-cadang
million dollars since it was first
observed in 1918.
 Other plant diseases
Corn Downy mildew destroy as much as 95%
of the corn crop

Rice tungro affected 70, 000

hectares of rice
fields in 1971.
CLASSIFICATION OF PLANT DISEASES

Identification and successive control of a particular disease is more easy when we

group plant diseases according to their different classification.
 Classification according to the affected plant organ such as root disease, foliage
diseases, fruit diseases and stem diseases.
 Classification according to the symptoms such as leaf spots, rusts, smuts,
anthracnose, mosaic, wilts and fruit rots.
 Classification according to the type of affected plants such as vegetable diseases,
diseases of forest trees, diseases of field crops, diseases of ornamentals, etc.
 Classification according to the type of pathogen that causes the disease.

ROBERT KOCH
CLASSIFICATION OF PLANT DISEASES

Infectious diseases Non-infectious diseases

a. disease caused by fungi a. extremely high or excessively
b. diseases caused mycoplasmas low temperature
c. diseases caused by bacteria b. unfavorable oxygen condition
d. diseases caused by viruses c. unfavorable moisture condition
e. diseases caused by viroids d. nutrient deficiencies
f. diseases caused by protozoa e. mineral toxicities
g. diseases caused by parasitic flowering f. air pollution
plant g. toxicity of pesticides
h. diseases caused by b nematodes
 THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF PLANT
D I S E A S E S

1. Reduction in yield
2. Deterioration of harvested
produce during storage,
marketing or transport accounts
for tremendous losses in our food
supply.
3. Reduction in the quality of the
produce
4. Microorganisms that colonize
plant products produce poisonous
substances or toxins that
endanger the health of the
consumer.
a. Peanut butter - Aspergillus flavus -
 THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF PLANT
D I S E A S E S

5. A pathogen often causes the

host to become weak and
susceptible to attack by other
pathogens.
-Nematodes injure the roots of
plants
-Bacterial wilt of tomato
becomes more severe if the roots
are attacked by root-knot
nematodes
- Leaf pathogens usually weaken
the plant
- Defoliated forest trees are
 TERMINOLOGIES
T i t l e
t e x t

Pathogen = any agent (biotic or abiotic), that causes a disease.

Parasite = an organism that depends wholly or partly on another
living organism for its food.
Obligate parasite = is an organism that is restricted to subsisting on
living organisms and attacks only living tissues.
Facultative parasite = is an organism that has the ability to be a
parasite although it is ordinarily a saprophyte
Saprophyte = is an organism that lives on dead organic or inorganic
matter.
Facultative saprophyte = has the ability to become a saprophyte but
it is ordinarily a parasite.
 TERMINOLOGIES
T i t l e
t e x t

Host = refers to the plant that is being attacked by the parasite.

Suscept = a plant that is susceptible to a disease whether or not the
pathogen is parasitic.
Pathogenecity = is the capacity of the pathogen to cause disease.
Pathogenesis = refers to disease development to the plant.
Virulence = refers to the quantitative amount of disease that an
isolate of a given pathogen can cause in a group of plants
in term of size of lesion.
Aggressiveness = measure the rate at which virulence is expressed
by a given pathogenic isolate.
 TERMINOLOGIES
T i t l e
t e x t

Disease resistance = is the inherent ability of any organism to

overcome to any degree the effects of a pathogen (Merrill,
1980).
Susceptibility = is the opposite of resistance.
Tolerance = is exhibited by a plant that is severely affected by a
pathogen without experiencing a severe reduction in yield.
Disease Incidence = percentage of plants or plant parts with a
disease.
Disease severity = percentage of diseased plant.
Vector = an agent (insect etc) able to transmit a pathogen that
causes disease.
 Definition of disease according to different authors
T i t l e t e x t

Horsfall The malfunctioning

physiological Whetzel and process caused by
continuous irritation”
malfunctioning caused Dimond

by animate agents

any deviation from Dynamic interaction

Stackman
normal growth or between an organisms
and Merril
Harrar and its environment
structure of plants
 Definition of disease according to different authors
T i t l e t e x t

1978 - disturbance National disease is harmful

brought about by a Agrios Academy alteration of the normal
pathogen or an of Science physiological and
environmental factor biochemical
development of plant
1998 - any malfunctioning
of host cells and tissues that
results from continuous
irritation by a pathogen
 S y m p t o m s a n d S i g n s

Detectable changes in Physical evidence of the

the plant's color, shape, pathogen, for example, fungal
and/or functions in fruiting bodies, bacterial ooze,
response to a pathogen or nematode cysts
or disease-causing agent.

Visible effects of disease on Can help with plant disease

plants. identification.
 SYMPTOMS

Systemic
Primary symptom
symptom 01 02

Secondary Histological
06 03
symptom symptom

05 04
Localized Morphological
symptoms symptom
 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N O F S Y M P TO M S

A. Necrotic symptom C. Hyperplastic

involved the death of
protoplast, cells or tissues.
symptom
expressed with the occurrence of
excessive multiplication,
enlargement or overdevelopment of
plant

B. Hypoplastic
symptom
inhibition or failure in the
differentiation

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 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N O F S Y M P TO M S

a. Abscission = premature falling of leaves, fruits or flowers due to the early laying down of the
abscission layer.
b. Blast = term applied to the sudden death of young buds, inflorescence or young fruits.
c. Bleeding = flow of plant sap from wounds.
d. Blight = an extensive, usually sudden, death of host tissue, such as leaf blight.
e. Blotch = large, irregular spots on leaves or fruits with necrotic injury of epidermal cell.
f. Callus = an overgrowth of tissue formed in response to injury in an effort of the plant to heal the
wound.
g. Canker = an often sunken necrotic area with cracked border that may appear in leaves, fruits,
stem and branches.
 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N O F S Y M P TO M S

h. Chlorosis = yellowing caused by some factor other than light, such as infection by a virus or a
mycoplasma.
i. Curling = abnormal bending or curling of leaves caused by over-growth on one side of the leaf or localized
growth in certain portions.
j. Damping-off = rotting of seedlings prior top emergence or rotting of seedling stems at an area just above
the soil line.
k. Die-back = a drying backward from the tip of twigs or branches.
l. Etiolation = yellowing of normally green tissues caused by inadequate light.
m. Fasciculatin or fasciation = clustering of roots, flower, fruits, or twigs around a common focus.
n. Flecks = extremely tiny spots on leaves, fruits, stems etc.
 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N O F S Y M P TO M S

o. Gumming or gummosis = oozing out of viscid gum from wounds in bark.

p. Leak = the host’s juices exude or leak out from soft-rotted portions
q. Mosaic = the presence, usually on leaves, of variegated patterns of green and yellow shades with sharply
defined borders.
r. Mottling = the variegation is less defined than mosaic and the boundaries of li8ght and dark variegated
areas are more diffused.
s. Mummification = an infected fruit is converted to a hard, dry, shrivelled mummy.
t. Phyllody = metamorphosis of sepals, petals, stamens or carpels into leaf-like structures.
u. Pitting = definite depressions or pits are found on the surface of fruits, tubers and other fleshy organs
resulting in a pocked appearance.
 C L A S S I F I C AT I O N O F S Y M P TO M S

v. Rosetting = shortening of the internodes of shoots and stems forming a crowding of the foliage in a rosette.
w. Rotting = the disintegration and decomposition of the host tissue.
x. Russeting = a superficial brownish roughening of the skin of fruits, tubers or other fleshy organs usually
due to the suberization of epidermal or sub epidermal tissues following injury to epidemics.
y. Sarcody = abnormal swelling of the bark above the wounds due to the accumulation of elaborated food
materials.
z. Savoying = the cupping or pocketing of parts of the leaf; also curling or puckering; due to
underdevelopment of veins or leaf margins.
aa. Scab = slightly raised, rough, ulcer-like lesions due to the overgrowth of epidermal and cortical tissues
accompanied with rupturing and suberization of cell walls.
ab. Shot-hole = a perforated appearance of a leaf as the dead areas of local lesions drop out.
S I G N S O F P L A N T D I S E A S E S

Sign refers to the structure of the pathogen that are found associated with the
infected plant part.
 Description of Specific Signs

a. Ooze= viscid masses of bacteria or spores of fungi

b. Thallus= vegetative body of bacterial pathogens or of lower fungi.
c. Plasmodium= naked, unwalled multinucleate protoplasmic body.
d. Mycelium= a mass of fungus hyphae;the vegetative body of fungus.
e. Felts= densely woven mats or webs of mycelium of various colors
f. Rhizomorph= threadlike-like or cord-like strands of hyphae.
g. Stroma= (pl. stromata) mass of vegetative hyphae with or without tissue of the host in or on which spores
are produced.
 Description of Specific Signs

h. Sclerotium (sclerotia) = compact masses of mycelium in dormant stage and able to germinate under
favorable conditions.
i. Conidiophore= stalk bearing spores
j. Sporagium =(pl. sporangia) an asexual fungus cell containing one or more asexual spores.
k. Acervulus= an erumpent, or bed-like mat of hyphae bearing short conidiophores and conidia, and
sometime setae.
l. Pycnidium= (pl. pycnidia) an asexual, hallow, globose or flask-like fruiting body, lined inside with
conidiophores.
m. Mushroom= the umbrella-like sporophores pof agaricaceous basidiomycetes.
 PLANT DISEASE DIAGNOSIS

Plant disease diagnosis is the

identification of specific plant
diseases through their
characteristic symptom and signs.

ROBERT KOCH