Describes the diseases of important vegetable crops and tells how to control them. Covers all disease types: bacterial, fungal, viral, nematode, and abiotic, and provides information on their cycles. Describes control measures, including resistant varieties, fungicides, crop rotation, and seed treatments. Well-illustrated and readable. Completely revised from first edition.

Vegetable Diseases focuses primarily on diseases that are caused by pathogens. Chapters dealing with the general principles of the causes, diagnosis and control of vegetable crop diseases are followed by crop-based chapters. Each disease entry includes a brief introduction to the disease, detailed description of disease symptoms, information on the pathogen and disease development, and suggestions on how to manage the problem. Top quality color photos illustrate the book throughout. This book will be useful to a range of professionals including research and extension plant pathologists; diagnosticians and plant lab personnel; teachers of agriculture and related subjects; university students in agriculture and related fields; commercial farmers, vegetable producers, and farm managers; agriculturalists in the fields of seed production, vegetable breeding, agrichemicals, pest control, marketing, and other subjects; government and regulatory persons dealing with agriculture; serious gardeners and hobbyists. Crop based organisation for easy diagnosis High quality color photos 444 color illustrations, 5 tables

Among the Horticultural Crops, Fruits and Vegetables (FV) are of primary - portance as the key source of essential components in an adequate and balanced human diet. FV have supported largely the daily food requirement of mankind since ages and even before man learned to grow cereal crops systematically. Over the years, growing FV has been the mainstay of rural economy and has emerged as an indispensable part of agriculture world over, offering farmers a wide range of crops in varied topography and climate. In certain parts of the world, FV are the major dietary staple. Apart from being a rich source of vitamins and minerals, this sector also contributes significantly in economy of the region or the nation. The increased income from per unit area of FV is far ahead and can not be compared with that of cereal crops. A recent survey by the Economist revealed that the world population has - creased by 90 % in the past 40 years while food production has increased only by 25 % per head. With an additional 1. 5 billion mouth to feed by 2020, farmers worldwide have to produce 39 % more. Looking at the load of the future food requirement, the global increased production of FV during last few years has absorbed the additional food requirement and accordingly the eating habits are also changing and shifting - wards more consumption of these commodities worldwide.

Our dependence on healthy vegetable crops as a reliable source of food transcends all barriers of nation and culture. Consumers now demand excellent quality from the industry that produces large volumes of high quality vegetables to be sold locally, regionally and shipped internationally. The diseases that affect vegetables compromise such quality

Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and the much needed roughage in our daily diet. These are of primary importance for an adequate and balanced human diet and contribute significantly to regional and national economy. However, the cultivation of these crops is often affected by the ravages of pests and diseases, thereby, lowering their yield potential. Diseases also cause subsequent post-harvest transit and storage losses. In the past few decades, dramatic advancements have been made in understanding the nature of vegetable diseases through in-depth investigations in host-pathogen interactions, development of molecular diagnostic tools and integration of new concepts, principals and approaches for their effective management. Indiscriminate use of chemicals for the management of vegetable diseases has led to an increase in environmental pollution and development of resistant strains of the pathogens. In the recent years, several advances have been made in eco-friendly technologies for integrated management of vegetable diseases. The book on, “Disease Problems in Vegetable Production” gives a comprehensive over-view of economic importance, symptomatology, etiology, epidemiology and management of important diseases of vegetable crops caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, virus like organisms, mycoplasmas and nematodes. The integration of more than one management practices including genetic resistance, cultural, biological and chemical methods has been suggested to make their use more effective, economical and eco-friendly. A total of 17 chapters dealing with important diseases of vegetables like potato, tomato, crucifers, cucurbits, pea, French beans, chillies, onion, garlic, egg plant, carrot, sugarbeet, colocasia, okra and leafy vegetables have been compiled in this book. The book also includes chapters on common pathogens of vegetable crops, disease problems in nurseries, post-harvest diseases and disease problems caused by nematodes. Each chapter contains disease cycles of important diseases that will help in better understanding of the perpetuation and spread of the disease causing pathogens. Coloured photographs of disease symptoms have been included for easy identification of different diseases. The book will serve as a useful guide for students, scientists, extension workers and others associated with the discipline of vegetable pathology.

This book is a compilation of the most challenging and significant chapters on the diagnosis and management of important bacterial, fungal, viral, viroid, phytoplasma, non parasitic diseases and various physiological disorders, in various crops. The chapters have been contributed by eminent plant pathologists, having wide experience of teaching and research on various crops with different types of diseases, which cause great economic losses. The book would be very useful for students, teachers and researchers of plant pathology. This book highlights recent advances made in the development of new types of resistance in host plants and alternative strategies for managing plant diseases to improve food quality and reduce the negative public health impact associated with plant diseases. Having entered into 21st century advancements in the Diagnosis of Plant Pathogens and Plant Disease Management need to be closely examined and adequately applied, so that newer challenges facing plant pathology could be adequately addressed in attaining food security for the growing population. Substantial advancements have been made in terms of expanding knowledge base of the biology of plant-microbial interactions, disease management strategies and application and practice of Plant Pathology. Application of molecular biology in Plant Pathology has greatly improved our ability to detect plant pathogens and in increasing our understanding, their ecology and epidemiology. Similarly, new technologies and resources have been evolved for the development of sustainable crop protection systems by different control strategies against various pests and pathogens that are important components of the integrated pest management programme. Natural products and chemical compounds discovered as a result of basic research and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis have led to the development of “biorational” pesticides. Biological control has been found to be the most significant approach to plant health management during the twentieth century and promises using modern biotechnology, to be even more significant in the twenty-first century.