In 1972, Johnson and Curl published Methods for Research on the Ecology of Soil-Borne Plant Pathogens. For many years, it was the only book on research techniques focusing on soilborne pathogens. Their perspective was broad, presenting techniques for soilborne pathogens, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Many of those techniques are still widely used and will continue to be for years to come. By the late 1970's, the book was no longer in print, and copies are now very difficult to obtain. Dhingra and Sinclair (1985) published Basic Plant Pathology Methods, a book even broader in scope than Johnson and Curl's in covering methodology for both foliar and soilborne pathogens. In 1987, the need for an updated, comprehensive work focused on methods for working with soilborne fungal plant pathogens became clear to members of the American Phytopathological Society Soil Microbiology and Root Disease Committee. Thus, after several years of discussion, the effort to develop a new book was finally initiated. Individuals with expertise in soil science, specific soilborne fungi, or other fields pertinent to the study of soilborne plant pathogens were invited to contribute chapters to this publication. The editors believe the information presented here to be a compilation of the most recent, comprehensive methodology available to those working with soilborne fungal pathogens. Hopefully, it will complement previously published books and help researchers overcome some of the common problems encountered when working with soilborne phytopathogenic fungi. It would also be desirable for this book to lead to greater standardization of methods and techniques used when working with these soilborne pathogenic fungi. ORGANIZATION This book is composed of three sections. Section I, in addition to the introduction and organizational information, includes brief reviews of general techniques useful in the study of soilborne phytopathogenic fungi. With the exception of the chapter by J. C. Correll on the use of new molecular techniques for identification of soilborne fungi, the information in Section I is not intended to be detailed or specific. The authors and editors have assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic concepts and principles of plant pathology.
Section II is composed of 30 chapters which focus on specific genera (or groups of genera) of soilborne fungi. Each chapter includes information on Identification, Host Range and Distribution, Isolation, Isolate Maintenance and Storage, and Inoculum Production and Pathogenicity Determinations. A uniform format was used throughout the book. Most authors were instructed to limit their chapters to approximately 10 double-spaced, typewritten pages. Additional pages were allowed for more complex genera such as Bipolaris, Fusarium, Phytophthora, Pythium, and Rhizoctonia. Although each author was restricted by page limitations, the information provided is sufficient to allow an individual with no prior knowledge of a particular pathogen to read the appropriate chapter and begin work without further literature review. To this end, authors were requested to select techniques which they felt were the easiest and most dependable, and to cite other related techniques. This approach required each author to make difficult decisions regarding what to include and cite, but also resulted in an excellent Literature Cited section for each chapter. The number of literature citations was not restricted, and the editors believe that this constitutes one of the real strengths of this book. At the end of the book, complete recipes for a variety of culture media are given in Appendix A. These recipes are organized into sections following the order of the chapters in Section II. Section III includes basic information on subjects such as soil physical properties, soil temperature, soil moisture, and soil atmosphere. The material in Section III is unique for a plant pathology methods book. Several of the chapters were written by scientists from other disciplines, and much of the information is not specific to plant pathology. However, anyone who works with soilborne pathogens should recognize the importance of the soil environment in which pathogens survive. Section III will help the researcher appreciate many of die complex environmental parameters which affect these fungi and the diseases they cause. The chapters in Section III complement the information in Section II, and together provide sufficient information to begin research on many of the more economically important soilborne fungal pathogens.
Communicate in the upcoming series
C. M. Rush, J. D. Mihail, and L. L. Singleton Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Bushland, Texas 79012 Department of Plant Pathology University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211 Department of Plant Pathology Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078
امراض النبات Plant Pathology 
رد مع اقتباس
مواقع النشر (المفضلة)