|
Plant diseases are among the important factors that areresponsible for causing yield loss in crop production. The loss dueto diseases alone is estimated to be around 26 per cent. Diseasesmay attack at any stage of the standing crop, from seedlings tillmaturity of the crop. They may affect different parts of theplants, such as foliage, stem, root, flowers or seed and causevarious types of symptoms, while the diseases such as wilt affectthe entire plant. All these ultimately result in the reduction ofyield and poor quality of the produce. Further, many pathogenscontinue to attack the stored grains and stored produce, and causespoilage. To save the crops from diseases caused by pathogens andthereby to increase crop production, it is imminent that diseaseshave to be controlled by any means.
To adopt various strategies for the control of pathogens, oneshould have some basic knowledge about the symptoms produced by thepathogens, their life cycle, mode of survival and spread, and thestage at which the host is most vulnerable to attack by thepathogens. Most of the cultivated varieties of different crops aresusceptible to one disease or another, while some others aresusceptible to many diseases. Even resistant cultivars of some ofthe crop species may become susceptible to some specific diseasesin course of time as a result of development of new physiologicraces of the pathogen by hybridization or natural mutation or whenthe environmental conditions are highly favorable for the pathogenand not quite favorable for the host.
In this book the authors have given a detailed account of themajor diseases of important field crops and horticultural crops,and their management. The text is substantiated with manyhand-drawn illustrations, which are of excellent quality and infact it is the highlight of the book.
A chapter on important edible mushrooms commonly grown in India,methods of cultivation of different mushrooms, diseases and pestsattacking mushroom beds and mushrooms is also included in the book.This may be quite useful to emerging entrepreneurs.
The book, which has been compiled as per the undergraduatesyllabus of agricultural institutions, will also be of use topostgraduate students and to those working in the department ofagriculture.ISBN - 9789380235462
|
|
Pages : 653
|