About Book

A plant disease is any abnormal condition that alters the appearance or function of a plant. It is a physiological process that affects some or all plant functions. Disease may also reduce yield and quality of harvested product. Plant pathology is defined as the study of the organisms and environmental conditions that cause disease in plants, the mechanisms by which this occurs, the interactions between these causal agents and the plant, and the methods of managing or controlling plant disease. The science of plant pathology is closely allied with other sciences such as botany, mycology, microbiology, genetics, chemistry, horticulture, agronomy, and soil science. Plant pathologists integrate and use information from many of these sciences to develop insights into disease development and disease control. Mycology and Plant Pathology emphasizes on various important aspects of pathology, techniques and biological control. This book is a valuable compilation of various topics, ranging from the most basic to the most complex ones. It provides extensive coverage of plant diseases, epidemiology, phytopathogenic bacteria, pseudomonas and molecular microbiology. It also includes topics like chitosan, irrigation practices, microbial quality, lectins and etc. It reflects recent advances in our understanding of the molecular genetic techniques. Aimed at students and researchers in both the biological and agricultural sciences, the book covers all aspects of plant pathology, from a description of the diseased plant and the various pathogens, to the way in which disease epidemics are caused and are controlled.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Management of Plant Disease Epidemics with Irrigation Practices.........................................................................................................1

Abstract...................................................................................................1

1. Introduction............................................................................................2

2. Diseases of the aerial plant parts......................................................4

3. Crown and root diseases .................................................................10

4. Conclusion............................................................................................15

Conflict of interest..............................................................................17

Chapter 2 Chitosan in Agriculture: A New Challenge for Managing Plant Disease.........................................................................................................25

Abstract.................................................................................................25

1. Introduction..........................................................................................26

2. Chitosan................................................................................................27

3. Chitosan seed treatments..................................................................33

4. Chitosan as soil amendment.............................................................36

5. Conclusion............................................................................................38

Acknowledgements.............................................................................39

Chapter 3 Antimicrobial Activity of Lectins from Plants..................................49

1. Introduction..........................................................................................49

2. General properties of plant lectins..................................................51

3. History of plant lectins......................................................................53

4. Occurrence and distribution.............................................................54

5. Hemagglutinating activity by plant lectins...................................55

6. Plant lectin............................................................................................58

7. Sugar binding activity and specificity of plant lectins................60

8. Structure of plant lectin.....................................................................62

9. Physicochemical properties of plant lectin....................................65

10. Isolate and purification of lectin......................................................68

11. Lectins in edible plants......................................................................69

12. Biological role......................................................................................70

13. Application to antimicrobial activity..............................................71

14. Conclusion............................................................................................77

15. Acknowledgement...............................................................................78

Chapter 4 Microbial Quality of Medicinal Plant Materials..............................96

1. Introduction..........................................................................................96

2. Common microbial contaminants associated with

medicinal plants..................................................................................98

3. Influence of different preparation techniques on the

microbiological quality.....................................................................100

4. Decontamination of plant materials..............................................104

5. Microbial quality parameters..........................................................105

6. Conclusion..........................................................................................107

Chapter 5 Molecular Microbiology Applied to the Study of Phytopathogenic

Fungi..........................................................................................................114

1. Introduction........................................................................................114

2. Chromosomal polymorphism and genome organization in

Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum spp....................................116

3. Phylogenetic relationships between strains of Colletotrichum

spp. using telomeric fingerprinting...............................................121

4. Develop of molecular methods for detection and identification

of phytophatogenic fungi–Monitoring of the diseases causing by

Colletotrichum spp...........................................................................126

5. Proteomics approaches of phytopathogenic fungi.....................128

6. Acknowledgements...........................................................................132

Chapter 6 Epidemiology and Control of Plant Diseases Caused by

Phytopathogenic Bacteria: The Case of Olive Knot Disease Caused

by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi.....................................139

1. Introduction........................................................................................139

2. Biology of infection .........................................................................140

3. General characteristics of phyllosphere habitats .......................143

4. Epiphytic populations of Psv...........................................................144

5. Endophytic populations of Psv........................................................147

6. Epidemiology and disease cycle....................................................148

7. Effect of olive knot disease on the vigor and yield of olive

trees......................................................................................................150

8. Control methods .............................................................................151

9. General conclusions..........................................................................160

10. Acknowledgments.............................................................................161

Chapter 7 Bacillus-Based Biological Control of Plant Diseases ...................177

1. Introduction ......................................................................................177

2. Potential for microbial biocontrol agents in agriculture...........178

3. Interest in Bacilli as biopesticides.................................................182

4. Deciphering the mechanisms involved in biocontrol of plant

diseases by Bacillus..........................................................................194

5. Improving biopesticides and conclusive statements ................199

6. Acknowledgements .........................................................................201

Citation......................................................................................................219

Index...........................................................................................................221

About Author

Eve Parker holds Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from State University, North Carolina. She has served as Guest Lecturer at various universities across US and Europe. She has written dozens of articles and journals related to plant physiology, plant taxonomy and weed science. Her research fields are in mycotoxicology and plant pathology. She has held seminars and attended international conferences on horticultural science, plant breeding and plants in vitro culture.