MODULE II

MAJOR PEST GROUPS

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand and differentiate the major pest groups such as plant pathogens, weeds,
and arthropod and vertebrates pest.
2. Define and understand Plant pathology, Weed Science and Entomology.
3. Understand the economic importance, concepts, causes of plant diseases, disease cycle,
plant disease epidemiology, and variability in plant pathogens.

Chapter I. Plant Pathology

Plant pathology is composed of many other disciplines such as botany, microbiology,
nematology, virology, bacteriology, mycology, meteorology, biochemistry, genetics, soil science,
horticulture, agronomy and forestry.
Plant pathology is the study of what causes plant disease, why they occur, and how to
control them.

- Deals with the study of nature, causes and control of plant disease.

- From the Greek word “pathos”= suffering

“logos”= to study
- Study of the suffering of plants
- Has two important components
1. As a Science
2. As an Art
As a Science
It looks into the characteristics of diseases, their causes, plant-pathogen interactions,
factors affecting disease development in individual plants and in populations, and the various
means of controlling diseases.

As an Art
It deals with the application of the knowledge gained from studying the science.
1. Diagnosis or recognition of particular a disease
2. Disease assessment and forecasting
3. Control measures

Concepts of Plant Pathology

- Plant pathology is composed of many other disciplines such as botany,

microbiology, nematology, virology, bacteriology, mycology, meteorology,
biochemistry, genetics, soil science, horticulture, agronomy, and forestry.

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 - Plant pathology is the study of what causes plant diseases, why they occur, and
how to control them
- Plant pathologist are usually interested in populations of diseased plants and not
in individual diseased plants.
- Plant diseases have had a major impact on mankind. Diseases such as ergotism
and late blight of potato have led to the deaths of thousands of people.
- Diseases such as coffee rust have changed the way people behave and/or their
customs.
- Diseases such as southern corn leaf spot, chestnut blight, and dogwood
anthracnose have appeared suddenly and caused millions of dollars to be lost in
damage as the pathogens of the diseases spread through the ranges of the
hosts.

The ultimate objective of plant pathology:

To prevent or minimize plant diseases not only to increase food production but also to
maintain the quantity and quality of the harvested fresh commodity until it reaches the
consumer.

A. The economic importance of plant diseases:

Men and other forms of animals exist solely on earth as guests of the Plant kingdom
because only the green plants can produce their own food. Plants are the only source of food,
clothing, shelter and numerous luxuries, drug, etc. When disease kills plant, all forms of life will
be adversely affected.

1. Plant disease epidemics have caused human sufferings, deaths and upheavals.

a. Potato late blight disease (1845-1846)

i. -caused famine and death of more than a million people in Ireland;
caused by Phytophthora infestans
b. Coffee rust in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
- Destroyed vast coffee plantations; tea was planted instead; caused by Hemileia vastatrix
c. Ergot poisoning in Europe (875 AD)
- Acquired from eating bread made from infected rye grains; caused by the fungus
Claviceps purpurea which produces sclerotia containing alkaloids that impede blood
circulaton.

2. Diseases cause enormous economic losses.

a. Cadang-cadang disease of coconut

- First observed in 1918; caused over $200 M worth of losses
b. Downy mildew of corn
- Yield loss can be as high as 95% amounting to over P170M annually

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- Now controlled by chemical seed treatment using metalaxyl; discovered by the fungus
Peronosclerospor philippinensis
c. Rice tungro disease – affected 70,000 has. In 1971; roughly 1.22M cavans rice lost
valued at P30,357,000
d. Coffee rust –destroyed the coffee industry in Batangas province; caused by Hemileia
vastatrix
e. Citrus decline- destroyed citrus plantations in Batangas; caused by Tylenchus
semipenetrans

I. Types of crop losses:

1. Reduction in yield
- Leaf spots/blights limit photosynthetic capacity of plants
- Root pathogens impede efficient absorption and sink-source processes essential for root
crops
- Fruit rots and spots reduce quantity of harvestable and marketable fruits.
2. Losses from deterioration during storage, marketing or transport
3. Reduction in the quality of produce
- Citrus fruits with scabs
- Moldy cereals and other commodities
- Reduced strength and undesirable discoloration in wood pulp
- Poor germination of infected seeds
4. Losses from produce contaminated with toxins that cause various disorders and/or
death to animals including man
- Aflatoxin: produced by Aspergillus flavus; carcinogenic to animals and man; commonly
found in stored corn, sorghum, copra, root crops etc.
- Ochratoxin: a mycotoxin produced by A. ochraceous; causes cancer of the liver
- Yellow rice toxins: formed by Penicillium spp.: caused several deaths in Japan
- Estrogenic factor in corn: produced by Fusarium graminearum; causes testes of young
male swine to have atrophy and the uteri of female pigs to enlarge and abort.
- Fumonisins: formed by Fusarium spp. In corn grains; caused esophageal cancer in man
and toxic to animals like horses.
5. Losses due to predisposition of host attack by other pathogens. Examples:
- Nematode injuries on roots serve as ports of entry for other pathogens.
- Leaf pathogens weaken plants which can become a host susceptible to root-rotting
pathogens
- Severely-defoliated trees can be readily attacked by Armillaria mellea and other fungi.
6. Losses from increased cost of production and handling.
- Cost of disease control is an added cost.
- Cost of culling disease commodities for marketing and processing.
- Infected and stained wood chips need longer time to bleach to obtain with white paper
product.
-

B. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PLANT PATHOLOGY

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a) The Pre-scientific Period
- It is believed that plant diseases had been present on earth long before man appeared
on this planet.
- The Bible as well as the great philsophers of old such as Aristotle, Homer, and
Theophrastus recorded a number of diseases including blights, mildews, rusts, and
blasts.
- The Greeks and Hebrews (500 B.C to about 280 B.C) believed that diseases to their
crops were brought down on them as punishment for their sins by a displeased wrathful
god.
- Theophrastus (370-286 B.C) – the great philosopher, and known as the “Father of
Botany” recorded several diseases of grains, trees and vegetables in his Historia
Plantarum.
- The Romans (320 B.C to around 475 A.D) held an annual festival, called Robigalia, to
placate their rust gods Robigus and Robigo who they believed were responsible for the
ravages caused by various rust diseases on crops.
- Pliny, the Elder, (A Roman philosopher) wrote about blights and rusts in his Historia
Naturalis. He even recommended that early sowing of grains allowed wheat and barley
to escape rust infection.
- Around 875 A.D, ergot epidemics in humans swept through various parts of Europe.
- Ergot of rye, a disease caused by Claviceps purpurea wherein the sclerotium of the
fungal pathogen replaces the rye kernel. The sclerotium contains alkaloids which impede
blood circulation thus causing gangrene and loss of arms, legs, toes, fingers, and death
people who happen to eat infected rye grains.
- The disease called Holy Fire or St. Anthony’s Fire was believed to be sent as Divine
punishment for man’s sins.
b) Beginnings and Advances in Scientific Studies
- Sir Francis Bacon (1605)- advocated inductive reasoning methods, as against deductive
reasoning and speculation, to interpret natural occurrences, and propelled the
development of science a step further
- From the 17th century to the mid-19th century early attempts at classifying plant diseases
were made by Tournefort, Zallinger, Fabricius and Unger.
- Franz Unger- credited with the “Autogenetic Theory of Disease” which states that when
plants are in the declining phase, the cellular constituents call forth new forms of life by
a vital force. This theory considers the pathogen an outgrowth of the infected host plant
without an independent body or life of its own or that the pathogen is the result of the
disease, and not the cause.
- Hans and Zaccharias Jansen- invented the compound microscope in 1590.
- Hooke- in 1665, was the first to see plant cells in cork and pith, in his Micrographia, was
the first to illustrate in detail a plant pathogenic microscopic fungus.
- Leeuwenhoek- 1683, found bacteria, protozoa and other microorganisms in water and in
other substrates.
- The “Germ Theory of Disease” which is the foundation of the science of plant pathology
was enhanced by the works of various people.
- Pier Antonio Micheli (1729) described several genera of fungi complete with illustrations

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 of their fruiting bodies and spores in his Nova Plantarum Genera. He was the first to
watch the germination of spores, mycelial development and formation of spores
characteristic of the species. He was convinced that fungi arose from their own spores.
- Tillet (1755) noted that dust (spores) from smutted wheat when sown on healthy wheat
seed resulted in smutted wheat plants.
- Targioni- Tozetti (1766) and Fontana (1761) did some studies on cereal rusts and
concluded that the disease was caused by the rust fungi associated with it.
- Prevost (1807)- was the first to conclusively demonstrate that the bunt disease of wheat
is caused by fungus pathogen. He studied the formation of spores and their
germination.
- Persoon and Fries- in the 1800’s, he conducted numerous studies on the taxonomy of
fungi.
- Heinrich Anton de Bary- published in 1853 his conclusion that all from evidences made
by previous workers on the rusts and smuts of cereals, diseases were caused by
parasitic microorganisms which were separate entities in themselves.
- considered as the “Father of Plant Pathology”.
- He showed that Phytophthora infestans is the cause of potato late
blight.
- Julius Kuhn- in 1858, he wrote the first textbook on plant pathology entitled, “Die
Kranheitin der Kulturewachse ihre Ursachen und ihre Verhutung” ( The Diseases of
Cultivated Plants, their causes and their Prevention)
- The period from 1850-1900 may be called the etiological period during which the theory
that plant diseases were caused by pathogenic organisms was developed.
- Louis Pasteur completed the overthrow of the theory of spontaneous generation in 1860
when he provided irrefutable evidence that microorganisms arise from pre-existing living
entities.
- Brefeld, Koch and Petri studied pure culture techniques for the growth of
microorganisms.
- Thomas J. Burrill (1878-1883) of the United States and J. H Wakker (1883-1889) of
Holand- proved that bacteria can incite diseases in plants. Burill showed that fireblight of
apple and pear is caused by a bacterium. Wakker demonstrated that the yellow disease
of hyacinth is also caused by a bacterium.
- Ivanowski (1892) and Beijerinck (1898) showed that some plant diseases are caused by
very small entities that could pass through bacteria-proof filters. This started the field of
virology.
- Stanley in 1935 crystallized a virus for the first time (the tobacco mosaic virus) which he
considered as an autocatalytic protein which is capable of multiplying in the living cells
of the host.
- Bawden and co-workers- in 1936, showed that the crystalline virus preparation consisted
of protein and nucleic acid. Kausche and co-workers in 1939 were the first to see the
virus particles under an electron microscope.
- Gierer and Schramm- established in 1956 that the nucleic acid is the infective
components of the virus particles.
- Nematodes as plant pathogens were first observed by Needham inside wheat galls

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 (kernels) in 1743.
- Berkeley noted root knot nematodes in galls formed in roots of cucumber.
- Cobb conducted extensive studies on the morphology and taxonomy of plant parasitic
nematodes from1913 to 1932.
- Flagellate protozoa were first observed by Lafont in1909 in the latex-bearing cells of
laticeferous plants although these organisms parasitized the latex without causing
apparent damage to the plant.
- Stahel in 1931 found protozoa causing abnormal phloem formation and wilting of coffee
trees which Vermeulen in 1963 confirmed. Flagellates are also believed to cause “heart
rot disease” a phloem disorder of coconut trees
- Mycoplasma-like organisms as plant pathogens were first reported by Doi et al to infect
aster yellows in Japan in 1967.
- Ishiie and co-workers- in 1965, observed that treating infected plants with tetracycline
caused a temporary disappearance of the symptoms and the mycoplasma-like bodies.
Diseases in which mycoplasmas have been implicated are lethal yellowing of coconut
palms, potato witches’ broom, bunchy top of papaya, rice yellow dwarf, mulberry dwarf,
mungbean witches’ broom and aster yellows.
- Davis and co-workers- observed what they called a spiroplasma in 1972. This motile,
helical microorganisms cause the stunt disease of corn.
- Diener in 1971 observed viroids as plant pathogens of potato causing the spindle tuber
disease. A viroid is an infectious ribonucleic acid molecule which is the smallest agent of
plant disease and is not capable of independent multiplication. Ex. Cadang-cadang of
coconut, citrus exocortis and potato spindle tuber are believed to be caused by viroids.
- Rickettsia-like microorganisms were found by Windsor and Black in 1972 to cause the
club leaf disease of clover. Other diseases such as phony peach and Pierce’s disease of
grapes may be caused by theses organisms.
- Bordeux mixture, a fungicide that is being used until today, was discovered by Pierre
Marie Alexis Millardet in October, 1882. This formed the foundation for the chemical
control of plant diseases.

c) Development of plant pathology in the Philippines

- The first diseased to be studied in the country are coffee rust caused by Hemileia
vastatrix and coconut bud rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora.
- Coffee rust was first noted in 1885 in Batangas.
- Coconut bud rot was initially observed in Laguna then spread to Quezon province
causing tremendous damage.
- Dr. Copeland was the first dean of the U.P College of Agriculture established in 1908.
This is where phytophathological work in the country all started and still going strong
today.
- The two other diseases that earned early attention were leaf blight of corn reported by
C.B Robinson in 1911 and downy mildew of corn observed by C. Baker in 1912. Baker
also published in 1914 “The lower fungi of the Philippines Islands” (a review of
Philippine plant disease) and the first supplement to the list of lower fungi in the
Philippine Islands

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- The first course in plant pathology was taught as Botany 4(Diseases of Plants) in the
Department of Agronomy in 1910 until 1917 when the Department of Plant Pathology
was put up.
- Otto A. Reinking was the first department head and the basic course in plant pathology,
Botany 4, was changed to Plant Pathology 1 (General Plant Pathology).
- Prof. Reinking, assisted by students of pathology, published the “Philippine Economic
Plant Diseases” in 1913. This work described the symptoms, causes and control
measures of various diseases. He also started the foundation of a herbarium of plant
diseases. Unfortunately this collection was lost during world war but it has been rebuilt
slowly after the war and is now known as the G.O Ocfemia Pathological and Mycological
Herbarium.
- G.O Ocfemia joined the department in 1918 and became department head from 1933 to
1955. He is the “Dean of Filipino Plant Pathologists”
- Research studies made during the early years were those of Weston on downy m of
corn (1920-23), Ocfemia on bunchy top of abaca and Fiji disease of sugarcane (1920’s-
1940’s)
- From 1950 to 1960 numerous studies on the etiology and control of leaf and seedling
disease were conducted.
- In the 1950’s and 1960’s the College of Agriculture underwent a large scale
development program in terms of staff development and improvement of physical
facilities (including classrooms and laboratories).
- The Philippine Phytopathological Society, an association of plant pathologists was
established in 1963.This Society since 1965 has maintained a scientific journal, the
Philippine Phytopathology.
- In the 1970’s, a Surveillance and Early Warning System for Plant Epidemics was
established by the Bureau of Plant Industry.
- O.R. Exconde and co-workers completely controlled by seed treatment the corn downy
mildew disease in 1978. A Plant Pest and Diseases Clinic is available in the department
to assist growers in identifying and containing their plant protection problems.

C. CONCEPTS OF PLANT DISEASE

I. Concepts of plant diseases

- A “physiological malfunction caused by animate agents” (Whetzel, 1929). He called

mulfuctioning caused by nonliving or inanimate agents as “physiogenic disease”.
- Any deviation from normal growth or structure of plants that is sufficiently pronounced
and permanent to produce visible symptoms or to impair quality or economic value
(Stakman and Harrar, 1957).
- A “malfunctioning process caused by continuous irritation’’
- A third definition given by Horsfall and Dimond in 1959 which states that disease is “a
malfunctioning process caused by continuous irritation”
- Any disturbances brought about by a pathogen or an environmental factor which
interferes with manufacturer, translocation or utilization of food, mineral nutrients and
water in such a way that the affected plant changes in appearance and yields less than

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 a normal healthy plant of the same variety (Agrios, 1978).
- Plant pathology is composed of many other disciplines such as botany, microbiology,
nematology, virology, bacteriology, mycology, meteorology, biochemistry, genetics, soil
science, horticulture, agronomy, and forestry.
- Plant pathology is the study of what causes plant diseases, why they occur, and how to
control them.
- Plant pathologist are usually interested in populations of diseased plants and not in
individual diseased plant.
- Plant diseases have had a major impact on mankind. Diseases such as ergotism and late
blight of potato have led to the deaths of thousands of people.
- Diseases such as coffee rust have changed the way people behave and/or their
customs.
- Diseases such as southern corn leaf spot, chestnut blight, and dogwood anthracnose
have appeared suddenly and caused millions of dollars to be lost in damage as the
pathogens of the diseases spread through the ranges of the hosts.

II. Terminology

1. Pathogen- any agent (biotic or abiotic) that causes a disease. The term is generally used
to refer to a living organism, such as a fungus, or bacterium, that causes disease.
2. Parasite- an organism which depends wholly or partly on another living organisms and
attacks only living tissues.
3. Obligate parasite- an organism that is restricted to subsist on living organisms and
attacks only living tissues.
4. Facultative parasite- an organism which has the ability to become a parasite although it
is saphrophyte.
5. Saprophyte- an organism that has the ability to become a saprophyte but is ordinarily a
parasite.
6. Host- a plant being attacked by a parasite. A food relationship with a parasite
(pathogen) is implied.
7. Pathogenicity- the capacity of a pathogen to cause disease.
8. Pathogenesis- disease development in the plant.
9. Virulence- refers to the quantitative amount of disease that can isolate of a given
pathogen can cause in a given group of plants in terms of size or number of lesions.
10.Aggressiveness- measures the rate at which virulence is expressed by a given
pathogenic isolate.
11.Disease resistance- inherent ability of an organism to overcome in any degree the
effects of a pathogen.
12.Susceptibility- opposite of resistance; the inability to overcome the effects of a
pathogen.
13.Tolerance- ability of plant to withstand the severe effects of the pathogen without
experiencing a severe reduction in yield.
14.Masked symptoms- symptoms not expressed due to unfavorable condition.
15.Symptomless carrier- a host that do not show symptom irrespective of environment

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III. Symptoms of Plant Diseases

- Symptoms are the expressions by the suscept or host of a pathologic condition by which
a particular plant disease may be distinguished from other diseases. This definition
accounts only for the visible response by the suscept to pathogenic invasion.
- Symptoms have been described as primary or secondary, localized or systemic,
histological or morphological.
- Primary symptoms are those that are immediate and direct results of the causal agent’s
activities on the invaded tissues whereas secondary symptoms are the effects on the
distant and uninvaded plant parts. For example, in the root and stem rot disease of
peanut caused by Sclerotium rolfsii, the primary symptom is the wilting of the leaves.
- Localized symptoms are characterized by distinct and very limited structural changes
usually in the form of lesions such as canker, leaf spot and gall. Systemic symptoms, on
the other hand, are more generalized pathological conditions such as mottle, mosaic,
and wilting.
- Histological symptom is essentially internal, and seen only upon the dissection of the
diseased plant portion and examination under the microscope. It is expressed as an
abnormality in cell content, structure or arrangement. Cell enlargement and vascular
discoloration are histologic symptom. Morphological symptoms are those malformations
and other changes that are visible to the naked eye.
- Symptoms are generally classified into (a) necrotic symptoms, (b) hypoplastic symptoms
and (c) hyperplastic symptoms. Necrotic symptoms involve the death of protoplast, cells
or tissues. Examples are spot, blight, scorch, canker and die-back. Before the actual
death of the protoplast or cell some evidences of protoplasmic disorganization and
degeneration may appear. Examples of these plesionecrotic symptoms are silvering,
yellowing and wilting.
- Hypoplastic symptoms appear when there is an inhibition or failure in the differentiation
or development of some aspect of plant growth. Stunting, chlorosis, mottle, mosaic,
curling and resetting are examples of hypoplastic symptoms.
- Hyperplastic symptoms are expressed with the occurrence of excessive multiplication,
enlargement or overdevelopment of plant organs including the abnormal prolonged
retention of the green color. Gall formation, fasciation, scab, premature defoliation or
fruit drop, and greening are examples of hyperplastic symptoms. Overdevelopment may
result from an increase in the size of cells (hypertrophy) or an abnormal increase in the
number of cells (hyperplasia).

Specific symptoms and their description are given below:

1. Etiolation- yellowing of normally green tissues caused by inadequate light.
2. Chlorosis- yellowing caused by some factor other than light, such as virus or mycoplasma.
3. Mosaic- the presence usually on leaves of variegated pattern of green and yellow shades
with sharply defined borders.
4. Mottling- the variegation is less defined than mosaic and the boundaries of light and dark
variegated areas are more diffused.
5. Veinclearing- the veins are translucent or pale while the rest of the leaf is its normal color.
6. Wilting may due to an infectious agent or lack of water.
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 Wilting caused by the latter is often temporary and the plant recovers upon the application
of enough moisture unless the drought is prolonged and the plant dies. Wilting by an
infectious agent often leads to death of the plant unless controlled in time.
7. Rotting- is the disintegration and decomposition of host tissue. A dry rot is a firm, dry decay
whereas a soft rot is a soft, watery decomposition. Any plant part may suffer from rot such
as fruit rot, stem-end rot, blossom-end rot, stalk rot, root rot.
8. Spot- a localized necrotic area also referred to as a lesion. Individual spots may be circular,
angular or irregular in shaped. Several spots may run together or coalesce forming large
necrotic areas.
9. Blight- an extensive, usually sudden, death of host tissue, such as a leaf blight.
10. Shot-hole- a perforated appearance of a leaf as the dead areas of local lesions drop out.
11. Canker- an often sunken necrotic area with cracked border that may appear in leaves, fruits,
stems and branches.
12. Mummification- in infected fruit is converted to a hard, dry, shrivelled mummy.
13. Leak- the host’s juices exude or leak out from soft-rotted portions.
14. Die-back- a drying backward from the tip of the twigs or branches.
15. Pitting- definite depressions or pits are found on the surface of fruits, tubers and other fleshy
organs resulting in a pocked appearance.
16. Rosetting- shortening of the internodes of shoots and stems forming a crowding of the
foliage in a rosette.
17. Abscission- Premature falling of leaves, fruits or flowers due to the early laying down of the
absciss layer.
18. Phyllody- metamorphosis of sepals, petals, stamens or carpels into leaf-like structure.
19. Curling- abnormal bending or curling of leaves caused by overgrowth on one side of the leaf
or localized growth in certain portions.
20. Scab- slightly raised, rough, ulcer-like lesions due to the overgrowth of epidermal and
cortical tissues accompanied with rupturing and suberization of cells walls.
21. Damping-off- rotting of seedlings prior to emergence or rotting of seedling stems at an area
just above the soil.
22. Sarcody- abnormal swelling of the bark above wounds due to the accumulation of elaborated
food materials.
23. Callus- an overgrowth of tissue formed in response to injury in an effort of the plant to heal
the wound.
24. Fasciculation or fasciation- clustering of roots, flowers, fruits or twigs around a common
focus.
25. Blast- term applied to the sudden death of young buds, inflorescence or young fruits.
26. Russetting- a superficial brownish roughening of the skin or fruits, tubers or other fleshy
organs usually due to the suberization of epidermal or subepidermal tissues following injury
to epidermis.
27. Streak or stripe- long, narrow necrotic lesions on leaves or stems

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