Chapter 27 - Century of plant virus management: A way forward

Abstract

Plant virus epidemics can lead to crop losses to the extent that it can shorten the supply of food in the world. Plant virus management has always been at a point where researchers feel that they lack management methods as they are available in other plant pathogens or in other words pathogens (bacteria and fungi) infecting plants can be managed but it is difficult to manage plant viruses once they have infected plants. It is also very important to diagnose the pathogens correctly in order to manage them. Management of plant viruses can be done by classical or traditional approaches and molecular methods. There has been a shift from traditional methods to molecular methods gradually from the last century. This has also led to improvement in the management strategies. Shifting to NGS in virus identification has brought revolution in understanding the genome of the viruses. Advent of RNAi techniques and NGS technology have further improved the management methods. Upcoming approaches such as CRISPER/Cas exploitation for plant virus management is the latest area where researchers are exploring the best possible plant virus management strategies.