Plant pathology
Plant pathology is the scientific study of plant diseases, including their causes, development, effects, and management.
Disease triangle: A model in which plant disease arises from interaction among a susceptible host, a pathogen, and a favorable environment. It explains why a pathogen alone does not determine whether disease develops.
Plant disease: A harmful disruption of normal plant structure or function caused by persistent biotic or abiotic factors. Plant pathology investigates this central phenomenon and its causes.
Integrated pest management: A decision-based approach combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical methods to limit pests and damage. Its framework places disease control alongside other crop-protection measures.
Anton de Bary: A German botanist who established key foundations of modern plant pathology through studies of parasitic fungi. His experiments showed how fungal parasites cause disease in plants.
Emerging plant diseases: Plant diseases that are newly detected, rapidly increasing, or expanding into new regions or hosts. Their changing distributions challenge surveillance and disease management.
Koch's postulates: A set of criteria for linking a microorganism to a disease through isolation, inoculation, and recovery. They provide a classic framework for testing whether a microorganism causes a plant disease.
Phytopathology diagnosis: The identification of a plant disease and its causal agent using symptoms, signs, and tests. Diagnosis turns observed damage into evidence about the cause.
Plant disease resistance: The inherited ability of a plant to restrict infection or reduce damage from a pathogen. Breeding resistant cultivars can prevent disease before other controls are needed.
Irish potato famine: The nineteenth-century famine in Ireland caused chiefly by potato crop failure from late blight and colonial conditions. The catastrophe made the cause of potato blight a major scientific and social question.
Plant pathogen evolution: Evolutionary change in plant pathogens that affects traits such as virulence, host range, and chemical resistance. Pathogen adaptation can undermine resistance genes and control methods.