Biological Control Of Rice Diseases (progress In Biological Control)
by Samuel S. Gnanamanickam /
2009 / English / PDF
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There is suf?cient need to document all the available data on
biological control of rice diseases in a small volume. Part of this
need rests on the global importance of rice to human life. In the
?rst chapter, I have tried to show that rice is indeed life for
most people in Asia and shortages in production and availability
can lead to a food crisis. While rice is cultivated in most
continents, biological disease management attains special relevance
to rice farmers of Africa, Asia, and also perhaps, Latin America.
These farmers are resource-poor and might not be able to afford the
cost of expensive chemical treatments to control devastating rice
pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae (blast), Xanthomonas oryzae
pv. oryzae (bacterial leaf blight), Rhizoctonia solani (sheath
blight) and the virus, rice tungro disease. In an earlier volume
that I developed under the title, Biological Control of Crop
Diseases (Dekker/CRC Publishers, 2002), I included transgenic crops
generated for the management of plant pathogens as biological
control under the umbrella of a broad de?nition. Dr Jim Cook who
wrote the Foreword for the volume lauded the inclusion of
transgenic crops and induced systemic resistance (ISR) as a
positive trend toward acceptance of host plant resistance as part
of biocontrol. I continue to subscribe to this view.
There is suf?cient need to document all the available data on
biological control of rice diseases in a small volume. Part of this
need rests on the global importance of rice to human life. In the
?rst chapter, I have tried to show that rice is indeed life for
most people in Asia and shortages in production and availability
can lead to a food crisis. While rice is cultivated in most
continents, biological disease management attains special relevance
to rice farmers of Africa, Asia, and also perhaps, Latin America.
These farmers are resource-poor and might not be able to afford the
cost of expensive chemical treatments to control devastating rice
pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae (blast), Xanthomonas oryzae
pv. oryzae (bacterial leaf blight), Rhizoctonia solani (sheath
blight) and the virus, rice tungro disease. In an earlier volume
that I developed under the title, Biological Control of Crop
Diseases (Dekker/CRC Publishers, 2002), I included transgenic crops
generated for the management of plant pathogens as biological
control under the umbrella of a broad de?nition. Dr Jim Cook who
wrote the Foreword for the volume lauded the inclusion of
transgenic crops and induced systemic resistance (ISR) as a
positive trend toward acceptance of host plant resistance as part
of biocontrol. I continue to subscribe to this view.