SYMPTOMS OF PLANT DISEASES

 SYMPTOMS – expressions by the suscept

or host of a pathologic condition by which a
particular plant disease may be
distinguished from other diseases

 Accounts only the visible symptoms but

includes any measurable host response to
infection such as increased respiration and
increased leaf temperature
SYMPTOMS OF PLANT DISEASES

 Usually change as the disease

progresses since disease is often a
dynamic process

 May also vary according to the

environment, the host, variety, and the
race of the pathogen involved
 SYMPTOMS OF PLANT DISEASES
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS

1. Primary symptoms – are those that are

the immediate and direct results of the causal
agent’s activities on the invaded tissues
ex. Sclerotium rolfsii – stem and root rot
 SYMPTOMS OF PLANT DISEASES
Primary Symptom – rotting of roots and stems
Secondary Symptom – wilting of the leaves
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS

2. Secondary symptoms – are the effects

on the distant and uninvaded plant parts
ex. bacterial wilt of tomato due to
Ralstonia solanacearum
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS

3. Localized symptoms – are

characterized by distinct and very limited
structural changes usually in the form of
lesions

Coffee brown
leaf spot sheath blight of
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS

4. Systemic symptoms – are more

generalized pathological conditions such
as mottling, mosaic and wilting

symptoms due to
PRSV Papaya Ring Spot
Virus (PRSV)
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS
5. Histological symptoms – are essentially
internal, and seen only upon the dissection of the
diseased plant portion and examination under the
microscope
a) expressed as an abnormality in cell content,
structure or arrangement
b) cell enlargement and vascular discoloration
 TYPES OF SYMPTOMS

6. Morphological Symptoms – are

those malformations and other changes that
are visible to the naked eye

Fruit spot
Leaf curl Leaf blight
 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF SYMPTOMS

1. Necrotic Symptoms – involve the

death of protoplast, cells or tissues like spot,
blight, scorch, canker and die-back

citrus canker melon leaf blight

mango die-back
 SYMPTOMS OF PLANT DISEASES
 Plesionecrotic Symptoms – protoplasmic
disorganization and generation which may occur
before the actual death of protoplast or cell
(silvering, yellowing and wilting)

 yellowing silvering
 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF SYMPTOMS

2. Hypoplastic Symptoms – appear when

there is an inhibition or failure in the
differentiation or development of some aspect
of the plant growth (stunting, chlorosis, mottle,
mosaic, curling and rosetting)
 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF SYMPTOMS

3. Hyperplastic Symptoms – expressed

with the occurrence of excessive multiplication,
enlargement or overdevelopment of plant
organs including the abnormal prolonged
retention of the green color

crown
galls
Overdevelopment may result from:
a) an increase in the size of cells (hypertrophy)
b) an abnormal increase in the number of cells
(hyperplasia)
ex. gall formation, fasciation, scab, premature
defoliation or fruit drop, greening

fasciation greening
 SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS AND THEIR
RESPECTIVE DESCRIPTION
 Abscission – premature falling of
leaves, fruits or flowers due to the
early laying down of the
abscission layer


 Blast – sudden death of young buds,
 inflorescence or young fruits
 Bleeding – flow of sap from wounds

stem
bleeding of
coconut

 Blight – an extensive,
usually sudden, death of
host tissues such as leaf
blight
 Blotch – large, irregular spots on leaves or fruits with
necrotic injury on epidermal cells

Callus – an overgrowth of
tissues formed in response to
injury in an effort of the plant
to heal the wound
 Canker – an often sunken
necrotic area with crack border
that may appear in leaves,
fruits, stems and branches

 Chlorosis – yellowing
caused by some factor
other than light, such as
infection by a virus or a
mycoplasma
 Curling – abnormal ending or
curling of leaves caused by
overgrowth on one side of the
leaf or localized growth
in certain portions

 Damping-off – rotting of
seedlings prior to
emergence or rotting of
seedling stems at an area
just above the soil line
 Die-back – a drying
backward from the tip of
twigs or branches

 Etiolation – yellowing of
 normally green tissues
 caused by inadequate
 light
 Fasciculation or fasciation–
clustering of roots, flowers,
fruits or twigs around a
common focus

 Flecks – extremely tiny spots

on leaves, fruits, stems, etc.
 Gumming or gummosis –
oozing out of viscid gum
from wounds in bark

 Leak – the host’s juices

exude or leak out from soft-
rotted portions
 Mosaic – the presence,
usually on leaves of variegated
patterns of green and yellow
shades with sharply defined
borders

 Mottling – the variegation is

less defined than mosaic
and the boundaries of the
light and dark variegated
areas are more diffused
 Mummification – an infected fruit
is converted to hard, dry,
shrivelled mummy

 Phyllody – metamorphosis
of sepals, petals, stamens
or carpels into leaf-like
structures
 Pitting – definite depressions or pits are found on
the surface o fruits, tubers and other fleshy organs
resulting in a pocked appearance
 Rotting – the disintegration and decomposition of
host tissues
A dry rot is a firm, dry decay whereas a soft rot
is a soft watery decomposition.

dry rot soft rot

 Rosetting – shortening of the
internodes of shoots
and stems forming a
crowding of the foliage
in a rosette

Russeting – a superficial
brownish roughening of the
skin of fruits, tubers or other
fleshy organs usually due to
the suberization of epidermal
or sub-epidermal tissues
following injury to epidermis
 Sarcody – abnormal
swelling of the bark above
wounds due to the
accumulation of elaborated
food materials

 Savoying – the cupping or

pocketing on parts of the
leaf; also curling or
puckering; due to
underdevelopment of veins
or leaf margins
 Scab – slightly raised, rough,
ulcer-like lesions due to the
overgrowth of epidermal and
cortical tissues accompanied
with rupturing and suberization
of cell walls

 Shot-hole – a perforated
appearance of a leaf as the
dead areas of local lesions
drop-put
 Spot – a localized necrotic
area also referred to as a lesion.
Individual spots may be circular,
angular or irregularly shaped.
Several spots may run together
or coalesce forming large
necrotic areas

 Streak or stripe – long,

narrow necrotic lesions on
leaves or stems
 Vein clearing – the leaf
veins are translucent or
pale while the rest of the
leaf is in its normal color

 Virescence or greening –
development of chlorophyll
in tissues or organs which it
is normally absent
 Wilting – may be due to infectious agent or lack of
water. 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.