Water and Plant Disease

Water Deficits and Plant Growth, Volume V: Water and Plant Disease presents a comprehensive treatment of the role of water deficits and excesses in the plant disease complex. This book highlights water relations of diseased plants and the effects of water stress induced by disease and environmental factors, along with water deficits related to disease and water stress as a predisposing factor in plant disease. This volume is organized into nine chapters and begins with an overview of the water relations of diseased plants, focusing on root, foliar, and shoot diseases, as well as vascular wilts. The following chapters examine the effects of water deficits on pathogen and host, the degree and duration of water deficits as predisposing factors in plant disease, and important abiotic diseases induced by water deficits and excess. The discussion then turns to water in relation to active and passive liberation of spores, as well as to the infection process. This book also explains soil moisture in relation to spread and survival of pathogens, the link between water and seed decay, field and storage fungi that affect seeds, and water in relation to wood deterioration. This volume concludes with a chapter on moisture as a factor in epidemiology and the forecasting of disease. This book is a valuable resource for scientists and investigators in fields such as botany, plant pathology, forestry, agriculture, and biology.