Agriculture and Farming Atlas

How The World Is Fed
Disciplines

Plant Pathology

Also Known As Phytopathology

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The science of plant disease: what pathogens, fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and others, do to crops, how they spread, and how growers detect, resist and treat them. The discipline that turned crop failure from an act of God into a diagnosable, often preventable, event.

Facts
Central Question
Plant pathology is the scientific study of diseases caused by pathogens and environmental conditions in plants, and of how those diseases can be diagnosed, understood and managed. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Irish Potato Famine, Milestones

The potato late blight behind the Irish famine, caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, is one of the founding cases that shaped the discipline.

Sources
1. Plant Pathology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionView the Source
1. Plant Pathology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Irish Potato FamineView the Source
American Phytopathological Society (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory section
Quote, History section
The society was founded in December 1908 by a group led by Cornelius Lott Shear. It was the first scientific organization in the world to be devoted exclusively to phytopathology.
View the Source
Weed Science (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: Weed Science, History section
Quote, Associated With: Weed Science, History section
Unlike other agricultural sciences like entomology or plant pathology, the emergence of weed science is comparatively recent, occurring largely within the 20th century and coinciding with the development of herbicides.
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