An appressorium is a specialized cell typical of many fungal plant pathogens that is used to infect host plants. It is a flattened, hyphal "pressing" organ, from which a minute infection peg grows and enters the host, using turgor pressure capable of punching through even Mylar.
Stem rust, also known as cereal rust, black rust, red rust or red dust, is caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis, which causes significant disease in cereal crops. Crop species that are affected by the disease include bread wheat, durum wheat, barley and triticale. These diseases have affected cereal farming throughout history. The annual recurrence of stem rust of wheat in North Indian plains was discovered by Prof. K.C. Mehta. Since the 1950s, wheat strains bred to be resistant to stem rust have become available. Fungicides effective against stem rust are available as well.
Blumeria graminis is a fungus that causes powdery mildew on grasses, including cereals. It is the only species in the genus Blumeria. It has also been called Erysiphe graminis and Oidium monilioides or Oidium tritici.
Take-all is a plant disease affecting the roots of grass and cereal plants in temperate climates caused by the fungus Gaeumannomyces tritici. All varieties of wheat and barley are susceptible. It is an important disease in winter wheat in Western Europe particularly, and is favoured by conditions of intensive production and monoculture.
Cochliobolus miyabeanus is a fungus that causes brown spot disease in rice.
Rhizoctonia solani is a plant pathogenic fungus with a wide host range and worldwide distribution. It was discovered more than 100 years ago. R. solani frequently exists as thread-like growth on plants or in culture, and is considered a soil-borne pathogen. R. solani is best known to cause various plant diseases such as collar rot, root rot, damping off, and wire stem. R. solani attacks its hosts when they are in their early stages of development, such as seeds and seedlings, which are typically found in the soil. The pathogen is known to cause serious plant losses by attacking primarily the roots and lower stems of plants. Although it has a wide range of hosts, its main targets are herbaceous plants. R. solani is a basidiomycete fungus but the teleomorph stage is not prominent. Occasionally, sexual spores (basidiospores) are produced on infected plants. The disease cycle of R. solani is important in management and control of the pathogen. The pathogen is not currently known to produce any asexual spores (conidia), though it is considered to have an asexual lifecycle perpetuated through sclerotia.
Gaeumannomyces graminis var. avenae is a plant pathogen.
Waitea circinata is a species of fungus in the family Corticiaceae. Basidiocarps are thin, effused, and web-like, but the fungus is more frequently encountered in its similar but sterile anamorphic state, sometimes called Rhizoctonia zeae. Waitea circinata is best known as a plant pathogen, causing commercially significant damage to cereal crops and turf grass.
Puccinia coronata is a plant pathogen and causal agent of oat and barley crown rust. The pathogen occurs worldwide, infecting both wild and cultivated oats. Crown rust poses a threat to barley production, because the first infections in barley occur early in the season from local inoculum. Crown rusts have evolved many different physiological races within different species in response to host resistance. Each pathogenic race can attack a specific line of plants within the species typical host. For example, there are over 290 races of P. coronata. Crops with resistant phenotypes are often released, but within a few years virulent races have arisen and P. coronata can infect them.
Sarocladium oryzae (Sawada) is a plant pathogen causing the sheath rot disease of rice and bamboo blight in Asia.
Magnaporthe salvinii is a fungus known to attack a variety of grass and rice species, including Oryza sativa and Zizania aquatica. Symptoms of fungal infection in plants include small, black, lesions on the leaves that develop into more widespread leaf rot, which then spreads to the stem and causes breakage. As part of its life cycle, the fungus produces sclerotia that persist in dead plant tissue and the soil. Management of the fungus may be effected by tilling the soil, reducing its nitrogen content, or by open field burning, all of which reduce the number of sclerotia, or by the application of a fungicide.
Erysiphe graminis f.sp. tritici is a plant pathogen that causes a fungal infection known as powdery mildew. It is most common in grains, and it can be identified by the characteristic white spots on leaves and stems that appear to be made of powder. Powdery mildew is one of the most widespread and easily recognizable plant diseases.
Phyllachora graminis is a plant pathogen infecting wheat.
Microbial inoculants also known as soil inoculants or bioinoculants are agricultural amendments that use beneficial rhizosphericic or endophytic microbes to promote plant health. Many of the microbes involved form symbiotic relationships with the target crops where both parties benefit (mutualism). While microbial inoculants are applied to improve plant nutrition, they can also be used to promote plant growth by stimulating plant hormone production.
Steneotarsonemus spinki, the panicle rice mite, spinki mite, or rice tarsonemid mite, is a species of mite in the family Tarsonemidae, the white mites. It is a serious pest of rice in tropical Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The Magnaporthaceae are a family of fungi in the order Magnaporthales. It was circumscribed by Paul F. Cannon in 1994 for a group of grass-associated fungi centered on Magnaporthe (Nakataea). Magnaporthaceae have a harpophora-like asexual morphology and are often associated with roots of grasses or cereals.
Gaeumannomyces is a genus of fungi in the family Magnaporthaceae.
Stephen Denis Garrett was a British plant pathologist and mycologist who did pioneering work on soil-borne pathogens, root pathology and soil ecology. He was the first to apply ecological concepts to interactions in the soil. Much of his research used as a model system the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis, which causes the important cereal disease take-all. He also studied Armillaria root rot of trees, among other plant diseases.
