Principles of Diagnostic Techniques in Plant Pathology

The correct diagnosis of a plant disease is an essential prerequisite of its successful control. Diagnostic methods today include a number of traditional techniques such as direct observation or microscopy, as well as more recently developed procedures such as those based on immunological or nucleic acid analysis. This book provides a text reviewing the principles of all these techniques that will be suitable for advanced students of plant pathology who already have some basic background in the subject. The theories behind the methods are described and illustrated with numerous examples of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses, and the strengths and limitations of different techniques are compared. The book includes a number of color photographs and will provide a very useful overview of this rapidly developing subject.