Rusts are fungal plant pathogens of the order Pucciniales causing plant fungal diseases.
Galls or cecidia are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or warts in animals. They can be caused by various parasites, from viruses, fungi and bacteria, to other plants, insects and mites. Plant galls are often highly organized structures so that the cause of the gall can often be determined without the actual agent being identified. This applies particularly to insect and mite plant galls. The study of plant galls is known as cecidology.
The Oomycetes, or Oomycota, form a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms within the Stramenopiles. They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the result of contact between hyphae of male antheridia and female oogonia; these spores can overwinter and are known as resting spores. Asexual reproduction involves the formation of chlamydospores and sporangia, producing motile zoospores. Oomycetes occupy both saprophytic and pathogenic lifestyles, and include some of the most notorious pathogens of plants, causing devastating diseases such as late blight of potato and sudden oak death. One oomycete, the mycoparasite Pythium oligandrum, is used for biocontrol, attacking plant pathogenic fungi. The oomycetes are also often referred to as water molds, although the water-preferring nature which led to that name is not true of most species, which are terrestrial pathogens.
Synchytrium endobioticum is a chytrid fungus that causes the potato wart disease, or black scab. It also infects some other plants of the genus Solanum, though potato is the only cultivated host.
Trichoderma viride is a fungus and a biofungicide.
The Pucciniaceae are a family of rust fungi that cause plant diseases, mainly on cereals such as wheat. The family contains over 4900 species: many of them in the type genus Puccinia.
Curly top is a viral disease that affects many crops. This disease causes plants to become smaller in size, have shriveled petals and leaves, and are twisted and pulled out of shape. They are often caused by curtoviruses, members of the virus family Geminiviridae. This disease is important in western United States, such as California, Utah, Washington, and Idaho.
Rhizoctonia solani is a species of fungus in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps are thin, effused, and web-like, but the fungus is more typically encountered in its anamorphic state, as hyphae and sclerotia. The name Rhizoctonia solani is currently applied to a complex of related species that await further research. In its wide sense, Rhizoctonia solani is a facultative plant pathogen with a wide host range and worldwide distribution. It causes various plant diseases such as root rot, damping off, and wire stem. It can also form mycorrhizal associations with orchids.
Erysiphe betae is a fungal plant pathogen. It is a form of powdery mildew that can affect crops of sugar beet, that could cause up to a 30% yield loss. The fungus occurs worldwide in all regions where sugar beet is grown and it also infects other edible crops, e.g. beetroot.
Physoderma alfalfae is a species of fungus in the family Physodermataceae. A plant pathogen, it causes crown wart of alfalfa.
Cercospora beticola is a fungal plant pathogen which typically infects plants of the genus Beta, within the family of Chenopodiaceae. It is the cause of Cercospora leaf spot disease in sugar beets, spinach and swiss chard. Of these hosts, Cercospora leaf spot is the most economically impactful in sugar beets. Cercospora beticola is a deuteromycete fungus that reproduces using conidia. There is no teleomorph stage. C. beticola is a necrotrophic fungus that uses phytotoxins specifically Cercospora beticola toxin (CBT) to kill infected plants. CBT causes the leaf spot symptom and prevents root formation. Yield losses from Cercospora leaf spot are around 20 percent.
This article summarizes different crops, what common fungal problems they have, and how fungicide should be used in order to mitigate damage and crop loss. This page also covers how specific fungal infections affect crops present in the United States.
Puccinia jaceae var. solstitialis is a species of fungus in the Pucciniaceae family. It is a plant pathogen that causes rust. Native to Eurasia, it is the first fungal pathogen approved in the United States as a biological control agent to curb the growth of the invasive weed yellow starthistle.
Rhizoctonia is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species form thin, effused, corticioid basidiocarps, but are most frequently found in their sterile, anamorphic state. Rhizoctonia species are saprotrophic, but some are also facultative plant pathogens, causing commercially important crop diseases. Some are also endomycorrhizal associates of orchids. The genus name was formerly used to accommodate many superficially similar, but unrelated fungi.
Gymnoconia is a genus of rust fungi in the family Phragmidiaceae. G. nitens causes an orange rust of Rubus species.
Helicobasidium is a genus of fungi in the subdivision Pucciniomycotina. Basidiocarps are corticioid (patch-forming) and are typically violet to purple. Microscopically they have auricularioid basidia. Asexual anamorphs, formerly referred to the genus Thanatophytum, produce sclerotia. Conidia-bearing anamorphs are parasitic on rust fungi and are currently still referred to the genus Tuberculina.
Synchytriaceae is a chytrid fungus family in the division Chytridiomycota. The family was described by German mycologist Joseph Schröter in 1892. The type genus, Synchytrium, contains about 200 species of fungi that are parasitic on flowering plants, ferns, mosses, and algae. Synchytrium endobioticum causes potato wart disease, an economically important disease of cultivated potato.
Cladochytrium is a genus of fungi. It is the type genus of the family Cladochytriaceae.
Physoderma maydis is a species of fungus in the family Physodermataceae. It is a pathogen of the maize, causing a disease known as brown spot of maize or brown spot of corn. This species was first labeled in 1910 in India, then again a year later in Illinois.
Pucciniosira is a genus of rust fungi belonging to the family Pucciniosiraceae.
