Diseases and Pests, Description, Uses, Propagation (2024)

FAQs

What is pest and disease? ›

A pest is any organism that spreads disease, causes destruction or is otherwise a nuisance. Some examples of pests are mosquitoes, rodents, and weeds. Not all insects are pests. Many different kinds of insects eat other insects and are beneficial species.

The most common insects that pass on disease are mosquitoes, sand flies, ticks, and fleas. For example, mosquitoes are known for spreading the Zika virus, Yellow Fever, and Malaria. Ticks are known to spread Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Growth disorders occur when plants are grown with incorrect amounts of water, nutrients, or light. Temperature extremes can also cause growth disorders. Plant diseases caused by pathogens are called infectious diseases. These diseases can be hard to diagnose and treat.

Common methods for the diagnosis and detection of plant diseases include visual plant disease estimation by human raters, microscopic evaluation of morphology features to identify pathogens, as well as molecular, serological, and microbiological diagnostic techniques (Bock et al.

Temperature and rainfall are the big drivers of shifts in how and where pests and diseases spread, according to experts.

Pest control plays a vital role in protecting our nation's public health and food supply. Pests can spread diseases such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease, salmonellosis, hantavirus and encephalitis.

Identifying Pests: During the growth of your garden, keep an eye out for any obvious bite marks or colonies of bugs. Be sure to check the underside of leaves and along plant stems. Identifying the bite marks and the plants the occur on may be all you need to identify the pest.

Nature and Effects of Plant Pests and Diseases

Plant pests and pathogens interfere with the growth and cause damage to cultivated and naturally growing plants. The interference and damage result in the failure of plants to reach their genetic potential.

If pests and diseases cannot be prevented or controlled by cultural and physical means, it may be necessary to use natural pesticides. Many growers have developed ways of making their own sprays from plants such as garlic, chillies, marigolds and many others. These are inexpensive and have proved to be very effective.

disease, any harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism, generally associated with certain signs and symptoms and differing in nature from physical injury. A diseased organism commonly exhibits signs or symptoms indicative of its abnormal state.

What is diseases and pests of crops? ›

Pests and diseases are enemies of crop plants. Pests are animals that damage agricultural produce by feeding on them. Common pests of crops are insects, birds, bats, rodents and monkeys. COMMON PESTS. The common cereal crops usually affected by pests are rice, maize, sorghum, millet and guinea corn.

The study of plant diseases is important as they cause loss to the plant as well as plant produce. The various types of losses occur in the field, in storage or any time between sowing and consumption of produce. The diseases are responsible for direct monitory loss and material loss.

The introduction of disease resistant varieties is the primary and most important step to control the disease. These varieties protect the plants from diseases causing organism by producing preformed toxins and by infecting immune cells of pathogens.

Pest and disease management consists of a range of activities that support each other. Most management practices are long-term activities that aim at preventing pests and diseases from affecting a crop. Management focuses on keeping existing pest populations and diseases low.

They affect the plant's growth and vigour, reduce yields and may even kill the plant. Pests cause damage to Plant roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.

Insect pests destroy crops in the field through their biting, chewing, boring, sucking and defoliation activities. They cause reduction in the viability of stored produce. Site of injuries by insects may predispose crops to disease attack. They increase the cost of production during the course of controlling them.

Diseases, insects, and weeds can cause costly and irreparable harm to livestock and crops. Methods to manage these problems include the use of pesticides or biological pest control. Integrated pest management (IPM) couples both methods and includes monitoring to reduce the overuse of pesticide applications.

How can we prevent pests and diseases in plants? ›

The traditional way to test is by submitting plant material to the lab that can be triaged and cultured in the lab to identify if a disease is present. The other option is to purchase the Plant Disease Identification Box and culture the plant material yourself.

Pests and diseases have continued to affect production of crops and have a serious impact on the economic output of a farm. Farmers need to vary their management methods depending on the crops they grow and the pests or diseases they are susceptible to, since they affect crops differently.

Abnormal increase in tissue size—Some diseases increase cell numbers or cell size in the plant tissues, twisting and curling the leaves or forming galls on stems or roots. Dwarfing—In some cases the pathogenic organism will reduce cell number or size, stunting parts of the host plant or the whole host plant.

Pests destroy our crops in many ways: Eating leaves of crop plants. Sucking out plant juices. Boring into the leaves, roots and stems.

The most common causes are viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Infectious diseases usually spread from person to person, through contaminated food or water and through bug bites. Some infectious diseases are minor and some are very serious.

According to a very broad classification, diseases can also be classified under the following – physical diseases, mental diseases, infectious diseases, non- infectious diseases, deficiency diseases, inherited diseases, degenerative diseases, social diseases, self-inflicted diseases.

In general, a plant becomes diseased when it is continuously disturbed by some causal agent that results in an abnormal physiological process that disrupts the plant's normal structure, growth, function, or other activities.

Symptoms of illness are often not directly the result of infection, but a collection of evolved responses – sickness behavior by the body – that helps clear infection and promote recovery. Such aspects of illness can include lethargy, depression, loss of appetite, sleepiness, hyperalgesia, and inability to concentrate.

Why is it important to understand disease and Defence in plants? ›

Understanding how plants defend themselves from pathogens and herbivores is essential in order to protect our food supply and develop highly disease-resistant plant species.

Pest Control may be controlled by using plant based products like neem extracts, neem oil, pongam oil. Biological agents like fungi, insects, bacteria, virus may also be used to kill pests and control the diseases. Animal extracts like fish oil and spinocin from bacteria also can kill insects.

Sanitation is the first step in preventing disease in propagation. Prior to sticking the first cutting, take time to clean and sanitize benches and irrigation systems. Remove all debris and use a chemical cleaner, such as Strip-It. Rinse the chemical cleaner off the surfaces using clear water.

The infectious diseases may be prevented in one of two general ways: (1) by preventing contact, and therefore transmission of infection, between the susceptible host and the source of infection and (2) by rendering the host unsusceptible, either by selective breeding or by induction of an effective artificial immunity.

According to the World Health Organization, Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health also reflects the metabolic and functional efficiency in living organisms. Health is considered as a basic parameter to life.

Treatments can include medicine, therapy, surgery, or other approaches. A cure is when a treatment makes a health problem go away for good. Some health problems have a cure. For example, to treat athlete's foot, health care providers use special creams, powders, or sprays that kill the fungus that causes the infection.

The transmission of microorganisms can be divided into the following five main routes: direct contact, fomites, aerosol (airborne), oral (ingestion), and vectorborne. Some microorganisms can be transmitted by more than one route.

Plant diseases can be broadly classified according to the nature of their primary causal agent, either infectious or noninfectious. Infectious plant diseases are caused by a pathogenic organism such as a fungus, bacterium, mycoplasma, virus, viroid, nematode, or parasitic flowering plant.

Pest and disease management consists of a range of activities that support each other. Most management practices are long-term activities that aim at preventing pests and diseases from affecting a crop. Management focuses on keeping existing pest populations and diseases low.

What's a pest mean? ›

: one that pesters or annoys : nuisance.

pest | American Dictionary

an insect or small animal that is harmful or damages crops: The aphid is a garden pest. infml A pest is also an annoying person, esp. a child: My brother is such a pest.

disease, any harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism, generally associated with certain signs and symptoms and differing in nature from physical injury. A diseased organism commonly exhibits signs or symptoms indicative of its abnormal state.

Cultural controls are one of the most common and effective ways to control pests and diseases in the garden. This involves using practices such as crop rotation, mulching, and companion planting to create an unfavorable environment for pests and diseases.

Pest management is an important component of crop production. Pests can have a detrimental effect on horticultural operations by affecting the quantity, quality and ultimately, the marketability, of the crops grown. A pest is any animal, insect, weed or disease that attacks a crop.

Mosquitoes, fleas, bugs, black ants, beetles are some examples of pests. - An animal also can be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries germs. The term pest is employed to refer specifically to harmful animals but it also relates to all or any other harmful organisms, including fungi and viruses.

Five Groups of Pests

Arthropods - Insects, Mites, Ticks and Spiders 2. Vertebrates - Animals with backbones 3. Weeds 4. Pathogens - Disease-causing organisms 5.

There are approximately 70 000 pest species and diseases that damage agricultural crops worldwide (Pimentel, 2009). Many of these pest species and diseases are localized in distribution.

(14) Plant pest The term “plant pest” means any living stage of any of the following that can directly or indirectly injure, cause damage to, or cause disease in any plant or plant product: (A) A protozoan. (B) A nonhuman animal. (C) A parasitic plant. (D) A bacterium. (E) A fungus.

Pests are insects or small animals which damage crops or food supplies.

What is pest and its classification? ›

Pest can be defined simply as any living organism, plant or animal, which can cause damage to cultivated crops, animals and human beings. Human beings can also be called pests if they cause damage to crops or livestock. Pests can carry organisms that cause diseases and constitute nuisance to agricultural products.

More subtly, it is important to define disease because of contemporary biomedicine's power to intervene not just in people's health status but also in domains of their biology where the effects are morally, and economically, problematic. For example: Is someone with a genetic predisposition to a disease already ill?