Sclerotinia diseases of crop plants : biology, ecology and disease management

__Sclerotinia__ is one of the most devastating and cosmopolitan soil borne plant pathogen that infects more than 500 species of plants worldwide including field crops, fruit crops, ornamentals, trees, shrubs and numerous weeds. Annual yield losses due to __Sclerotinia__ diseases exceed over millions of dollars each year world over. Extensive crop damage, lack of high levels of host resistance and the general difficulty of managing diseases caused by __Sclerotinia__ have been the impetus for sustainable research on this pathogen. The present book on __Sclerotinia__ deals with the aspects on taxonomy, nomenclature, geographical distribution, economic importance, host range, the diseases caused, symptomatology, disease assessment, reproduction, ultra-structures, pathogenic variability, perpetuation, infection and pathogenesis, biochemical, molecular and physiological aspects of host pathogen interaction, seed infection, disease cycle, epidemiology and forecasting, host resistance and disease management strategies. In addition, laboratory and field techniques developed so far for __Sclerotinia__ have been included. Some newly emerging areas of __Sclerotinia__ research including its application as myco-herbicide, phytoalexin elicitors, hypovirulence, volatile compound imitator, sporigermin production from sclerotia, resistance to fungicides and health hazard‘s due to __Sclerotinia__ diseases have been discussed. The subject matter is vividly illustrated with photographs (macroscopic, microscopic, electron micrographs, scanning electron micrographs), drawings, figures, histograms, graphs, tables and flow charts of techniques which make it more interesting, stimulating, effective and easy to understand by the readers. This is the first ever comprehensive compilation on different aspects of __Sclerotinia__ and will be of immense value for researchers, teachers and students.

Sclerotinia is one of the most devastating and cosmopolitan soil borne plant pathogen that infects more than 500 species of plants worldwide including field crops, fruit crops, ornamentals, trees, shrubs and numerous weeds. Annual yield losses due to Sclerotinia diseases exceed over millions of dollars each year world over. Extensive crop damage, lack of high levels of host resistance and the general difficulty of managing diseases caused by Sclerotinia have been the impetus for sustainable research on this pathogen.

The present book on Sclerotinia deals with the aspects on taxonomy, nomenclature, geographical distribution, economic importance, host range, the diseases caused, symptomatology, disease assessment, reproduction, ultra-structures, pathogenic variability, perpetuation, infection and pathogenesis, biochemical, molecular and physiological aspects of host pathogen interaction, seed infection, disease cycle, epidemiology and forecasting, host resistance and disease management strategies. In addition, laboratory and field techniques developed so far for Sclerotinia have been included. Some newly emerging areas of Sclerotinia research including its application as myco-herbicide, phytoalexin elicitors, hypovirulence, volatile compound imitator, sporigermin production from sclerotia, resistance to fungicides and health hazard‘s due to Sclerotinia diseases have been discussed. The subject matter is vividly illustrated with photographs (macroscopic, microscopic, electron micrographs, scanning electron micrographs), drawings, figures, histograms, graphs, tables and flow charts of techniques which make it more interesting, stimulating, effective and easy to understand by the readers. This is the first ever comprehensive compilation on different aspects of Sclerotinia and will be of immense value for researchers, teachers and students.

Sclerotinia is one of the most devastating and cosmopolitan soil borne plant pathogen that infects more than 500 species of plants worldwide including field crops, fruit crops, ornamentals, trees, shrubs and numerous weeds. Annual yield losses due to Sclerotinia diseases exceed over millions of dollars each year world over. Extensive crop damage, lack of high levels of host resistance and the general difficulty of managing diseases caused by Sclerotinia have been the impetus for sustainable research on this pathogen. The present book on Sclerotinia deals with the aspects on taxonomy, nomenclature, geographical distribution, economic importance, host range, the diseases caused, symptomatology, disease assessment, reproduction, ultra-structures, pathogenic variability, perpetuation, infection and pathogenesis, biochemical, molecular and physiological aspects of host pathogen interaction, seed infection, disease cycle, epidemiology and forecasting, host resistance and disease management strategies. In addition, laboratory and field techniques developed so far for Sclerotinia have been included. Some newly emerging areas of Sclerotinia research include its application as myco-herbicide, phytoalexin elicitors, hypovirulence, volatile compound imitator, sporigermin production from sclerotia, resistance to fungicides and health hazard‘s due to Sclerotinia diseases have been discussed. The subject matter is vividly illustrated with photographs (macroscopic, microscopic, electron micrographs, scanning electron micrographs), drawings, figures, histograms, graphs, tables and flow charts of techniques which make it more interesting, stimulating, effective and easy to understand by the readers. This is the first ever comprehensive compilation on different aspects of Sclerotinia and will be immense value for researchers, teachers and students. Sclerotinia is one of the most devastating and cosmopolitan soil borne plant pathogen that infects more than 500 species of plants worldwide including field crops, fruit crops, ornamentals, trees, shrubs and numerous weeds. Annual yield losses due to Sclerotinia diseases exceed over millions of dollars each year world over. Extensive crop damage, lack of high levels of host resistance and the general difficulty of managing diseases caused by Sclerotinia have been the impetus for sustainable research on this pathogen.The present book on Sclerotinia deals with the aspects on taxonomy, nomenclature, geographical distribution, economic importance, host range, the diseases caused, symptomatology, disease assessment, reproduction, ultra-structures, pathogenic variability, perpetuation, infection and pathogenesis, biochemical, molecular and physiological aspects of host pathogen interaction, seed infection, disease cycle, epidemiology and forecasting, host resistance and disease management strategies. In addition, laboratory and field techniques developed so far for Sclerotinia have been included. Some newly emerging areas of Sclerotinia research include its application as myco-herbicide, phytoalexin elicitors, hypovirulence, volatile compound imitator, sporigermin production from sclerotia, resistance to fungicides and health hazard‘s due to Sclerotinia diseases have been discussed. The subject matter is vividly illustrated with photographs (macroscopic, microscopic, electron micrographs, scanning electron micrographs), drawings, figures, histograms, graphs, tables and flow charts of techniques which make it more interesting, stimulating, effective and easy to understand by the readers. This is the first ever comprehensive compilation on different aspects of Sclerotinia and will be immense value for researchers, teachers and students.-back cover The fungus Sclerotinia has always been a fancy and interesting subject of research both for the mycologists and pathologists. More than 250 species of the fungus have been reported in different host plants all over the world that cause heavy economic losses. It was a challenge to discover weak links in the disease cycle to manage Sclerotinia diseases of large number of crops. For researchers and s- dents, it has been a matter of concern, how to access voluminous literature on Sclerotinia scattered in different journals, reviews, proceedings of symposia, workshops, books, abstracts etc. to get a comprehensive picture. With the pub- cation of book on ‘Sclerotinia’, it has now become quite clear that now only three species of Sclerotinia viz. , S. sclerotiorum, S. minor and S. trifoliorum are valid. The authors have made an excellent attempt to compile all the available infor- tion on various aspects of the fungus Sclerotinia. The information generated so far has been presented in different chapters. After introducing the subject various aspects viz. , the diseases, symptomatology, disease assessment, its distribution, economic importance, the pathogen, its taxonomy, nomenclature, reproduction, reproductive structures with fine details, variability, perpetuation, infection and pathogenesis, biochemical, molecular and physiological aspects of host-pathogen interaction, seed infection, disease cycle, epidemiology and forecasting, host resistance with sources of resistance, mechanism of resistance and other mana- ment strategies have been covered. Front Matter....Pages i-lxii Introduction....Pages 1-11 Geographical Distribution....Pages 13-17 History and Host Range....Pages 19-39 Economic Importance....Pages 41-45 The Disease and Symptoms....Pages 47-70 Disease Assessment....Pages 71-75 The Pathogen – Sclerotinia ....Pages 77-111 Reproduction and Reproductive Structures....Pages 113-161 Ultrastructures....Pages 163-199 Pathogenic Variability....Pages 201-208 Perpetuation....Pages 209-214 Infection and Pathogenesis....Pages 215-224 Biochemistry of Host-Pathogen Interaction....Pages 225-230 Physiology of Host-Pathogen Interaction....Pages 231-238 Disease Cycle....Pages 239-243 Epidemiology of Sclerotinia Diseases....Pages 245-278 Disease Forecasting....Pages 279-283 Disease Resistance....Pages 285-300 Disease Management....Pages 301-376 Sclerotinia as Mycoherbicide....Pages 377-381 Phytotoxin, Phytoalexin, Fungal Viruses, Hypovirulence, Volatile Compounds of Sclerotinia ....Pages 383-385 Laboratory and Field Techniques....Pages 387-415 Future Strategies and Priorities....Pages 417-418 Back Matter....Pages 419-485 Sclerotinia pathogens infect more than 500 species of plants worldwide, including field and fruit crops, trees and shrubs. This vividly-illustrated and exhaustive text is the first ever compilation on all aspects of these ubiquitous pathogens.