Chapter 2 - Current status of plant diseases and food security

Abstract

Plant diseases have been recognized as one of the major challenges to food security worldwide. Every year, very large amounts of food produce are lost qualitatively and quantitatively due to plant diseases mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and parasitic plants, calling for the development of suitable control measures. The in-depth information on plant pathogen interaction and disease progression is one of the primary criterion for management. The early detection of plant diseases, in this regard is considered as one of the important strategy for effective minimization of plant diseases in order to enhance food security. The occurrence and spread of most of the plant disease are influenced greatly by different environmental factors like temperature, moisture content, soil characteristics, pathogen virulence, inoculum density, and host. Postharvest disease management by physical methods has not been proved successful under storage condition. The employment of chemical approaches is much expensive, not ecologically sound, induces resistance in plant pathogens, generates environmental hazards, and most strikingly results into accumulation of applied chemicals in crop produce. The practices of different biological methods including biocontrol methods, plant breeding, and genome editing for plant disease control, hence improved productivity, are environment friendly, economical, attractive, and bears possibility with application under field condition. However, the changing climatic conditions are thwarting the goals of food availability, thus posing severe threat to global food security. The present chapter is an effort to provide information relevant to plant diseases caused by different pathogens, impact on crop productivity, factors influencing the pathogen’s growth and disease development, and finally application of currently available chemical and biological approaches against the plant disease in order to achieve the goal of food security.