Recent Approaches towards the Management of Fungal Diseases in Crop Plants

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Pest and Disease Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 3103

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Sustainable Crop Production, Università Catolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy
Interests: plant pathology; botanical epidemiology; plant disease modelling; risk assessment; decision-making in crop protection; sustainable crop management; biological control; precision crop protection
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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol 3036, Cyprus
Interests: plant pathology; integrated disease management; biological control; mycology; population biology; fungicide resistance; trunk diseases; gray mold; postharvest pathology; grapevine and vegetable crops

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal diseases pose a huge threat to all major crops around the world, seriously affecting yields and quality, and often causing serious economic losses to farmers. The disease management of fungal diseases is critical and requires integrated approaches and strategies. To enhance crop health, increase yields, and improve food security, researchers focus on innovative technologies to prevent, predict, and diagnose crop fungal diseases. This Special Issue aims to explore the latest advances in this field by publishing high-quality research articles focusing on the management of crop fungal diseases.

We welcome original research articles, review papers, case studies, and perspectives that provide a comprehensive understanding of the latest updates in the management of fungal crop diseases. This Special Issue will cover a wide range of topics related to fungal disease management, including but not limited to the epidemiology of fungal diseases of crops, alternative control strategies (e.g., the use of biological control agents, synthetic communities, priming agents, and cultural practices), chemical control (fungicides), plant disease modelling, precision crop protection, remote sensing technology, and resistance breeding. We encourage researchers and experts from different disciplines to contribute their valuable insights and findings to this Special Issue.

Dr. Giorgia Fedele
Dr. Loukas Kanetis
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fungal diseases
  • biological control
  • chemical control
  • alternative control
  • induced resistance
  • crop monitoring
  • plant disease modelling
  • resistance breeding
  • integrated disease management
  • fungicides
  • crop protection

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1345 KiB  
Article
A Meta-Analysis of 67 Studies on the Control of Grape Sour Rot Revealed Interesting Perspectives for Biocontrol
by Chiara Brischetto, Vittorio Rossi and Giorgia Fedele
Agronomy 2024, 14(8), 1859; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14081859 - 21 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1022
Abstract
Sour rot (SR) is a disease complex that affects grape berries during ripening and can cause severe yield losses and deterioration of wine quality. The etiology and epidemiology of the disease remain uncertain, which has severely limited the development of specific, targeted management [...] Read more.
Sour rot (SR) is a disease complex that affects grape berries during ripening and can cause severe yield losses and deterioration of wine quality. The etiology and epidemiology of the disease remain uncertain, which has severely limited the development of specific, targeted management strategies. In this study, a network meta-analysis was applied to data collected through a previous systematic literature review for statistically comparing the efficacy of different methods for the control of SR and some filamentous fungi isolated from rotten berries. Use of either synthetic fungicides (CHEM) and natural compounds or biocontrol microorganisms (BIO) provided partial and variable control of SR; however, the efficacy of BIO was similar to, or higher than, that provided by CHEM. Agronomic practices (AGRO) had a significant but lower effect on SR. The integration of different control methods (IPM) provided better and less variable disease control than any single method. Natural compounds, such as zeolites and bicarbonates, and microorganisms (e.g., yeasts Candida and Aureobasidium) are also promising alternatives to synthetic fungicides in SR control. Full article
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15 pages, 1904 KiB  
Article
A Complex Approach to Control Black Dot Disease in Potato
by Maria A. Kuznetsova, Natalia V. Statsyuk, Valentina N. Demidova, Irina N. Semeniuk, Tatiana I. Smetanina, Anastasiya Y. Ukolova and Alexey A. Vyatchinov
Agronomy 2024, 14(7), 1373; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071373 - 26 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1660
Abstract
In recent years, skin blemish diseases of potato (including black dot (BD) caused by Colletotricum coccodes) have begun to be important for global potato marketing, since consumers often reject tubers with an imperfect appearance, which results in financial losses caused by the [...] Read more.
In recent years, skin blemish diseases of potato (including black dot (BD) caused by Colletotricum coccodes) have begun to be important for global potato marketing, since consumers often reject tubers with an imperfect appearance, which results in financial losses caused by the disposal of unwanted potatoes. Like for many non-fatal plant diseases, BD severity may depend on the immune status of plants influenced by other infectious agents. Using a set of 98 potato cultivars differing in their late blight (LB) resistance, we examined the correlation between the intensity of their infection with LB determined by their LB resistance and the occurrence of the BD disease under field conditions with a high background level of both diseases. Using LB-susceptible (Arizona) and moderately susceptible (Sante) cultivars, we also evaluated the effect of a crop protection against LB on BD development under the same field conditions. A strong negative correlation (r = −0.81, p < 0.05) between the LB resistance and the BD occurrence has been revealed. An experiment using the two cultivars, chemically protected against LB, showed a significant reduction in BD occurrence of 30% (cv. Arizona) and 20% (cv. Sante) compared to the untreated controls; the total yield and marketability of potatoes increased by 103.6 and 62.5% for cv. Arizona and by 65.9 and 43.8% for cv. Sante. The reduction in the LB affection of potato is one of the key factors improving the immune status of potato cultivars in relation to BD infection, so methods of LB protection should be included in a complex approach to BD control. Full article
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