AGC332: CROP DISEASES MANAGEMENT

(Lecture 5)
Stephen Mushimwa Chileshe
16 March 2021
stephenmushimwa@yahoo.com
LAST TIME, WE DISCUSSION WAS ON….
We continued on Epidemiology
Focused on Disease forecasting
And Disease control

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EFFECTS OF DISEASES ON CROPS & ON MAN

Plant growth and development are regulated

by substances called plant hormones.
Some of the key hormones include, abscisic
acid, auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins.
Depending on the hormone produced, plant
growth is enhanced or inhibited.
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Plant pathogens may produce more of the same
growth regulators or more of the same inhibitors of
the growth regulators as those produced by the
plant.
In addition, plant pathogens may even produce
growth regulators or inhibitors that are alien to the
plant.
On the other hand, plant pathogens may produce
substances that stimulate or retard the production of
a plant’s normal growth enhancers or inhibitors. 4
READING ASSIGNMENT:

 Take time and read about gibberellic acid, cytokinins, auxins, ethylene and
abscisic acid. Envision how various or respective plant pathogenic secretions
would counter the normal operations of each of these hormones and cause
diseases i.e. what would be the possible disease symptoms? Give examples of
diseases and the respective hormones enhanced or inhibited.

 This will be our basis for our next Zoom class

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EFFECTS ON CROPS
 Diseases are important because of their effects on the
growth and physiology of crops. In general, we can
recognise the following types of effects on crops:
 Damage to roots: Any infection that affects roots will
also affect whole plant.
 The effect is to reduce the ability of the root system to
supply water and nutrients to the shoot.
 This may lead to reductions in growth rates (stunting) and
signs of nutrient deficiency, yellowing of leaves or
increased late-season water stress (wilting).
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 Disruption to translocation: reduces the ability of a
plant to move water and nutrients into the shoot.
 Symptoms may not be severe while demand for water is
low, but increased demand late in the season or during
dry periods can lead to wilting, premature senescence or
ripening (whiteheads in cereals) and occasionally death.
 Structural damage to the stem: this is caused by
necrosis of supporting tissue.
 Lodging of crops, which makes them difficult to harvest,
can be caused by diseases like sorghum stalk rot.

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 Damage to photosynthetic tissue: is the main cause of loss in
most foliar diseases.
 Fungal pathogens reduce size of chloroplasts.

 Disruption of reproduction: this is caused by diseases that attack

flowers or inflorescences.
 Another example is Ergot of rye, caused by Claviceps purpurea, is
another plant disease important in human diet.
 The pathogen infects the ovary of rye (or other cereal grains)
while the plant is blooming.
 It colonizes the ovary and begins to replace the plant tissue with
hard black structures called sclerotia.

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 Damage to grain: either in the field or post-harvest is important both for its
direct effects and also for potential toxin contamination.

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 Increased transpiration: foliar pathogens such as rusts
and mildews damage the leaf cuticle and epidermis,
increasing leaf cell permeability, so that the rate of
transpiration is increased and the plant wilts.
 Increased respiration: rate of respiration increases in
affected plants since that plant has to cope with stress.
 Affected tissues use up their reserve energy faster than
healthy tissues.

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EFFECTS ON MAN
 Financial losses
 Control measures practised by farmers can be costly

 Transportation of fruits and vegetables might require refrigerated warehouses

and vehicles to ‘freeze’ pathogenic activities.
 Increased handling costs

 Reduced quality due to spots, blemishes, scabs, blotches, which may appear
on fruit, vegetables and ornamental plants.
 Loss of life: human beings and animal can die as a result of eating
contaminated food stuff.
 Reduced quantity

 Loss of quantity represents threat not only to household but also national
food security.
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