Topic 14:

Principles of Plant Disease Control

 Disease - A diseases is the impairment of the normal physiological

functioning of a plant or plant part, caused by the continued irritation of
a primary factor or factors. This interrupts or modifies its vital functions.
 Loss due to disease range from 30% (few) to 100% crop failure
(severe).
 Understanding pathogens and the diseases aids in disease
management.
 Purpose of disease control is to prevent disease from exceeding some
level where profit or yield is significantly diminished.
 How a disease Develop…….

 Development of any disease depends on a

close interaction among three diverse factors:

The Host
The pathogen
The environment
 Disease Cycles

Survival Inoculation

Penetration
Dispersal

Pathogen
reduction Infection

Disease

• Pathogens all go through a cycle with similar events.

• Knowing how particular pathogen go through their cycle is important
in developing management strategies.
 Vanderplank’s Equivalence (Theorem)
• Effects of host, pathogen and environment can be
translated into terms of the rate parameter of an epidemic.
• Changes in any component have an equivalent effect on
disease.
• More-less susceptible host
• More-less aggressive pathogen
• More-less favorable environment
All affect amount of disease
 What is Control Measures….

 These are measures taken to prevent incidence of a disease,

reduce the amount of inoculum that initiates the spreads of disease
and finally minimizes the loss caused by the disease.
 Plant disease management is the eminent process in crop
production.
 A disease can be managed by eliminating interaction between:
 a susceptible host
 a virulent pathogen
 in a suitable environmental conditions
 Basic principles of disease control:
7
Control strategies can be divided into two groups based on their
effect on the development of resistance to the control measure
by the pathogen:

1. Eradicative control measures — designed to eliminate the

entire pathogen population - examples: pesticides, vertical or
complete resistance - These tend to select for resistant
variants of the pathogen. Why? All individuals are affected, so
the pathogen must adapt or die.

2. Management control measures — designed to reduce the

pathogen population by destroying a portion of the population -
examples: horizontal or partial resistance, antagonism, cultural
practices, quarantine - These do not apply heavy selection
pressure to the pathogen. Why? Portions of the pathogen
population remain unaffected, no pressure to adapt.

* Of the two, we prefer to use management strategies.

PRINCIPLES OF PLANT DISEASE
MANAGEMENT
1) Avoidance
2) Exclusion
3) Eradication
4) Protection
5) Therapy
6) Resistance
7) Transgenic plants
8) Biological control
 1) Avoidance
Avoiding disease by altering planting time, or planting in areas where
inoculum is ineffective due to environmental condition or rare or
absent. Avoidance can be carried out by:-
• Choice of geographical areas
• Selection of field / environment – unsuitable for growth of pathogen
• Selection of seed and planting materials
• Choice of time for sowing
• Use of disease escaping varieties
• Modification of cultural practices
• Plant a susceptible crop at a great distance from other fields
containing possible disease.
 2) Exclusion
Preventing inoculum or plant pathogen from entering or establishing in
the field or in an area where it does not exist. Exclusion measures
include:
• Seed treatment / pathogen-free propagation material
• Quarantine & Inspection:
 These are regulations or laws controlling the import and export
of plants to prevent spread of disease and pest.
 All planting materials, products etc which are prohibited
materials are subjected to inspection at legal entry points and if
found infected are either treated, quarantined or destroyed.
• Clean farm equipment
 3) Eradication

• This principle aims at eliminating a pathogen after it is introduced into

an area but before it has become well established or widely spread.
It can be applied to individual plants, seed lots, fields or regions.
• Eradication can be done by:
 destroying weeds – reservoirs of various pathogens / insect
vectors of the diseases
 biological control of plant pathogen
 crop rotation (esp. with non-host) / dissimilar types
 soil treatment / fumigation
 heat and chemical treatments – burn / flame etc
• Eradication is generally not effective over large geographic areas
 4) Protection
Preventing infection by creating a chemical toxic barrier
between the the plant surface and pathogens. Includes

 Chemical treatment

 Chemical control of insect vector

 Chemical compounds are toxic to the pathogen and Inhibit

germination, multiplication and growth of the pathogen.
 Modification of environment or environmental condition
 Modification of host nutrition
 5) Resistant Varieties
• Preventing infection or reducing effect of infection by managing the
host through improvement of resistance in it by genetic manipulation
or by chemotherapy.
• The host possess qualities that hinder growth and development of a
given pathogen
• Can be achieved through:
Selection & hybridization for disease resistance
Mutation for diseas resistance
Use of genetic engineering - insert genes that code for
production of enzymes or toxin that could interfere pathogen
infection
 6) Diseased-Plant Therapy

Reducing severity of disease in an infected individual by chemicals or

heat. Includes

 Chemotherapy

 Heat Therapy
 Plant Diseas Control Methods
8

There are four basic types of plant disease control

methods:

a) Cultural control

b) Biological control

c) Chemical control

d) Integrated Disease Management (IDM)

e) Regulatory / Legislative systems

 CULTURAL METHODS
Involves management practices in a farm. Cultural control includes:
1) Crop Rotation
 Rotate with unrelated / non-susceptible hosts
 Resistant cultivars / green manure crops / legumes – cereals
 E.g. rotate soybean with maize to control soybean cyst nematode
 Advantages:
 Breaks pathogen cycles
 Recycles nutrients
 Enhances soil quality
2) Cover Crops
Weed suppression
Attract natural enemies
Improves water penetration
Increases microbial activity
Increases soil nutrients

3) Appropriate Cultivars
Resistant cultivars / varieties
Pests & disease specific
 CULTURAL METHODS
4) Tillage / Cultivation
Ploughing land can manage / kill some vectors and disease
pathogens
Buries them deep in the soil
Exposes some pathogens on the soil surface – heat & sunlight
5) Sowing / Planting
Use quality certified seeds / Healthy transplants
Raised / sunken beds
Location – avoid pathogen or its vectors
Timing:
Adjust sowing / planting dates favorable to the host
Harvest at proper maturity
 e.g. plant cotton late to control damping-off caused by Pythium
(warm soil)
Spacing – observe recommended spacing & plant populations
6) Proper moisture supply / Irrigation
Type of irrigation influences pathogen & disease occurrence
Amount of irrigation / timing of irrigation
Allow foliage to dry btw irrigations
Raised beds in heavier soils – good drainage
 CULTURAL METHODS
4) Hygiene / Sanitation
In seedbed, field & greenhouse management
Removal of damaged / diseased leaves or plants
Removal of weeds & crop residues – alternate hosts / reservoirs for pathogen
Clean field equipment – avoids basal rots
5) Mulching
 can serve as a barrier btw above-ground plant parts and pathogens in the
soil.
Prevent early blight in tomatoes
Suppresses weeds – alternate hosts for pathogens i.e. viruses
Conserves soil moistures
6) Fertilization / Plant Nutrition
Humus rich (OM) & fertile soils – balanced nutrients
Soil amendments – maintains optimal conditions for the crops
Abiotic disorders
Attracts pests & promotes weed growth
Weaker plants are more susceptible to pests and diseases
7) Biodiversity
balance of pests & their predators
increase biodiversity through crop rotations
Polycultures – different vegetables on same land
Variety mixtures – different varieties of same vegetable
 BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
• Involves manipulation of biotic entities; host and antagonistic
microorganisms.
1) Host resistance: control based on the genes and the resistance
mechanisms they control.
• Van der Plank (1960’s) described two types of resistance:
a) Vertical resistance - resistance that is effective against some, but not
all, races of a pathogen; decreases the effective amount of incoming
inoculum (avirulent races can't infect), but does not reduce the rate
of disease development (virulent races are not affected
b) Horizontal resistance - resistance that is effective against all races of
the pathogen; decreases the rate of disease development for all
races
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
 BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

• Resistance has been defined in many other ways since Van der Plank,

including systems based on: epidemiologic effects, number of genes involved,

how long the resistance lasts under field conditions etc

• Additional terms you should be familiar with are:

i) Tolerance - plants are diseased, but they do not yield less than healthy

plants.

ii) Induced resistance - a normally susceptible plant treated with an

avirulent strain of a pathogen gives a resistant reaction when challenged

later with a strain that is virulent.

 BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
2) Antagonists: - control using microorganisms that inhibit the growth,
development, or reproduction of pathogens
• Four types of activity:
a) Antibiosis — inhibition of pathogen through antibiotics produced by the
antagonist - examples: streptomycin (antibacterial, from actinomycete),
penicillin (antibacterial, from fungus)
b) Competition — two organisms attempt to utilize the same limiting factors
(nutrients, oxygen); supply not large enough to support both antagonist and
pathogen
c) Amensalism — antagonist makes the environment unsuitable for the
pathogen (modifies pH, temperature, moisture)
d) Parasitism & predation — antagonist directly attacks the pathogen
example: nematode-trapping fungi
 BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
3) Control of Insect Vectors

There are many examples in which losses by bacteria, viruses, and mycoplasma-

like disease agents can be reduced by controlling aphids, leafhoppers, thrips,

beetles, and other carriers of these agents.

CHEMICAL CONTROL
CHEMICAL CONTROL
CHEMICAL CONTROL
CHEMICAL CONTROL
INTEGRATED DISEASE MANAGEMENT (IDM)
INTEGRATED DISEASE MANAGEMENT (IDM)
Legislative / Regulatory Control