Overview of plant pathogens
The Concept of
Disease in Plants
Morphology and ways of multiplication of some of the
groups of plant pathogens
Mistletoe recognized as the first plant pathogen
Mistletoe recognized as the first plant pathogen
• Mistletoe infects many deciduous trees and especially the dwarf
mistletoes (Arceuthobium), which infects conifers, cause considerable
damage to trees they infect.
• They generally damage trees by making their trunks and branches swell
where they are infected and then break there during windstorms,
thereby reducing the surface of the tree and reducing the quality of
timber.
• Mistletoe plants produce separate male and female flowers and berry-
like fruits containing a single seed.
• The seeds are coated with a sticky substance and are either forcibly
expelled and stick to branches of nearby trees or are eaten by birds but
go through their digestive tract and stick to branches on which birds drop
them.
Potato blight and the irish famine: a deadly mix of
ignorance and politics
• In about 1800, the potato, which was introduced in Europe from
South and Central America around 1570 a.d., was a well-
established crop in Ireland.
• The potatoes grew well for many years, free of any serious
problems. In the early 1840s, potato crops began to fail to varying
extents in several areas of Europe and Ireland.
• In 1845, the weather over northern Europe and Ireland became
cloudy, wetter, and cooler and stayed that way for several weeks
consequently whole potato plants became blighted and died.
• The famine was exacerbated by the political situation between
England and Ireland. Approximately, 1 million irish people were
died during 1845-1849.
Losses caused by plant diseases
• Plant diseases are of paramount importance to humans because they damage
plants and plant products on which humans depend for food, clothing, furniture,
the environment, and, in many cases, housing.
• Death from starvation of one and a quarter million Irish people in 1845 and much
of the hunger of the underfed millions living in the developing countries today are
examples of the consequences of plant diseases.
• For countries where food is plentiful, plant diseases are significant primarily
because they cause economic losses to growers.
• Plant diseases, however, also result in increased prices of products to consumers.
• They sometimes cause direct and severe pathological effects on humans and
animals that eat diseased plant products.
• They destroy the beauty of the environment by damaging plants around homes,
along streets, in parks, and in forests; and, in trying to control the diseases, people
release billions of pounds of toxic pesticides that pollute the water and the
environment.
Koch’s postulates
Robert Koch (1843–1910) (Fig. 1-16C) was a
medical doctor and a bacteriologist. He was the
first to show, in 1876, that anthrax, a disease of
sheep and other animals, including humans, was
caused by a bacterium that he called Bacillus
anthracis.
Based on his experiences, in 1887, Koch set out
the four steps or criteria that must be satisfied
before a microorganism isolated from a diseased
human, animal, or plant can be considered as the
cause of the disease. These four steps, rules, or
criteria are known as “Koch’s postulates.”
Koch’s postulates theory
1. The suspected causal agent (bacterium or other microorganism)
must be present in every diseased organism (e.g., a plant)
examined.
2. The suspected causal agent (bacterium, etc.) must be isolated from
the diseased host organism (plant) and grown in pure culture.
3. When a pure culture of the suspected causal agent is inoculated
into a healthy susceptible host (plant), the host must reproduce the
specific disease.
4. The same causal agent must be recovered again from the
experimentally inoculated and infected host, i.e., the recovered
agent must have the same characteristics as the organism in step 2.
Procedure for sample collection, packaging and
submission
1. Obtain fresh material in reasonable quantity. Be certain to include
as many identifiable stages of the disease as are represented. Be
sure to include suitable plant material for botanical identification,
since occasionally field identifications may be in error or the host
plant identity may not be known.
2. Lift roots carefully so as not to leave feeder roots or rotted roots
behind. Include about a liter of soil for pH, soluble salts, and
possibly a nematode assay.
3. Place samples in appropriately sized plastic bags, including a paper
towel for a blotter if sample is very wet. Duplicate dry samples are
recommended if the sample is succulent or fragile.
4. Wrap a wire twist-tie around stem at ground line to keep soil off of
above-ground plant parts. Accurately label samples. Place the
entire sample in a paper bag or an unsealed plastic bag.
5. Keep samples cool, protected from crushing.
6. Gather appropriate information from the grower (see Table 3) and
make pertinent observations (see Table 4).
7. Include this information with sample submission form. Complete
mailing addresses and map locations are necessary if owners want
to be informed of diagnosis or site must be revisited. Also, clerical
work in the clinic is greatly simplified when a properly completed
submission form is included with the sample.
