Plant pathology Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

has developed from antiquity, but scientific study began in the

Early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

and developed in the 19th century.

Early history

*300–286 BC;

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

, father of botany, wrote and studied diseases of trees, cereals and legumes

17th century

*1665;

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath who was active as a physicist ("natural philosopher"), astronomer, geologist, meteorologist, and architect. He is credited as one of the first scientists to investigate living ...

illustrates a plant-pathogenic fungal disease,

rose rust ''Phragmidium '' is a genus of rust fungus that typically infects plant species in the family Rosaceae. It is characterised by having stalked teliospores borne on telia each having a row of four or more cells. All species have a caeoma which i ...

*1675; Antony van Leeuwenhoek invents the compound microscope, in 1683 describes bacteria seen with the microscope

18th century

*1729;

Pier Antonio Micheli Pier Antonio Micheli (11 December 1679 – 1 January 1737) was a noted Italian botanist, professor of botany in Pisa, curator of the Orto Botanico di Firenze, author of ''Nova plantarum genera iuxta Tournefortii methodum disposita''. He discover ...

observes fungal spores, conducts germination experiments *1755; Mathieu Tillet reports on treatment of seeds

19th century

*1802;

Lime sulfur In horticulture, lime sulfur (lime sulphur in British English, see American and British English spelling differences) is mainly a mixture of calcium polysulfides and thiosulfate (plus other reaction by-products as sulfite and sulfate) formed by r ...

first used to control plant disease *1845–1849; Potato late blight epidemic in Ireland *1853;

Heinrich Anton de Bary Heinrich Anton de Bary (26 January 183119 January 1888) was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist (fungal systematics and physiology). He is considered a founding father of plant pathology (phytopathology) as well as the fou ...

, father of modern mycology, establishes that fungi are the cause, not the result, of plant diseases, publishes "Untersuchungen uber die Brandpilze" *1858; Julius Kühn publishes "Die Krankheiten der Kultergewachse" *1865; M. Planchon discovers a new species of ''

Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...

'', which was named '' Phylloxera vastatrix.'' *1868–1882;

Coffee rust ''Hemileia vastatrix'' is a multicellular Basidiomycota, basidiomycete fungus of the order Pucciniales (previously also known as Uredinales) that causes coffee leaf rust (CLR), a disease affecting the Coffea, coffee plant. Coffee serves as t ...

epidemic in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

*1871;

Thomas Taylor Thomas Taylor may refer to: Military *Thomas H. Taylor (1825–1901), Confederate States Army colonel *Thomas Happer Taylor (1934–2017), U.S. Army officer; military historian and author; triathlete *Thomas Taylor (Medal of Honor) (born 1834), Am ...

publishes the first

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

papers on microscopic plant pathogens *1875;

Mikhail Woronin Mikhail Stepanovich Voronin, also Woronin (; 21 June 1838 – 20 February 1903) was a prominent Russian biologist, a botanist with particular expertise in fungi. Education Voronin was born in St Petersburg on 21 June (2 July/August old calendar ...

identified the cause of

clubroot Clubroot is a common disease of cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, radishes, turnips, Matthiola, stocks, Erysimum, wallflowers and other plants of the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae). It is caused by ''Plasmodiophora brassicae'' ...

as a "plasmodiophorous organism" and gave it the name ''

Plasmodiophora brassicae ''Plasmodiophora brassicae'' is a soilborne organism that is best known for its high economic impact on ''Brassica'' oil and vegetable crops. It infects 30 different Brassicaceae, cruciferous plants, which consists of up to 16 crop species, 9 or ...

'' *1876; ''

Fusarium oxysporum ''Fusarium oxysporum'' (Schlecht as emended by Snyder and Hansen), an ascomycete fungus, comprises all the species, varieties and forms recognized by Wollenweber and Reinking within an infrageneric grouping called section Elegans. It is part of ...

'' f.sp. ''cubense'', responsible for

Panama disease Panama disease (or Fusarium wilt) is a plant disease that infects banana plants (''Musa'' spp.). It is a wilting disease caused by the fungus ''Fusarium oxysporum'' f. sp. ''cubense'' (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and its cont ...

, discovered in bananas in Australia *1878–1885;

Downy mildew Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to the Peronosporaceae family. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of c ...

of grape epidemic in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

*1879;

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( ; ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he i ...

establishes germ theory: diseases are caused by microorganisms *1882; ''Lehrbuch der Baumkrankheiten'' (''Textbook of Diseases of Trees''), by

Robert Hartig Robert Hartig (born: Heinrich Julius Adolph Robert Hartig, 30 May 1839, in Braunschweig – died 9 October 1901, in Munich) was a German forestry scientist and mycologist. He has been called the father of forest pathology. Biography He was educ ...

, is published in Berlin, the first textbook of

forest pathology Forest pathology is the research of both biotic and abiotic maladies affecting the health of a forest ecosystem, primarily fungal pathogens and their insect vectors. It is a subfield of forestry and plant pathology. Forest pathology is part ...

. *1885;

Bordeaux mixture Bordeaux mixture (also called ''Bordo Mix'') is a mixture of copper(II) sulphate (CuSO4) and quicklime ( Ca O) used as a fungicide. It is used in vineyards, fruit-farms, vegetable-farms and gardens to prevent infestations of downy mildew, powder ...

introduced by Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet to control

downy mildew Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to the Peronosporaceae family. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of c ...

on grape *1885; Experimental proof that bacteria can cause plant diseases: ''

Erwinia amylovora Fire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to apple and pear producers. Under optimal conditions, it can destroy an entire orchard ...

'' and

fire blight Fire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to apple and pear producers. Under optimal conditions, it can destroy an entire orchard ...

of apple *1886–1898; Recognition of plant viral diseases:

Tobacco mosaic virus Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus species in the genus '' Tobamovirus'' that infects a wide range of plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteris ...

*1889; Introduction of hot water treatment of seed for disease control by J. L. Jensen

20th century

*1902; First chair of plant pathology established, in Copenhagen *1904; Mendelian inheritance of cereal rust resistance demonstrated *1907; First academic department of plant pathology established at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

*1908;

American Phytopathological Society The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is an international scientific organization devoted to the study of plant diseases (phytopathology). APS promotes the advancement of modern concepts in the science of plant pathology and in plant heal ...

founded *1910; Panama disease reaches Western Hemisphere *1911; Scientific journal ''

Phytopathology Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

'' founded *1923;

Lawrence Ogilvie Lawrence Ogilvie (5 July 1898 – 16 April 1980) was a Scottish plant pathologist who pioneered the study of wheat, fruit and vegetable diseases in the 20th century. From 1923, in his first job and aged only 25, when agriculture was Bermuda's m ...

identified the virus that had devastated Bermuda's high-value

lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

bulb crops. *1925;

reaches every banana-growing country in the Western Hemisphere *1951;

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) is an Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation responsible for European cooperation in plant protection in the European and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean ...

(EPPO) founded *1967; Recognition of plant pathogenic

mycoplasma ''Mycoplasma'' is a genus of bacteria that, like the other members of the class ''Mollicutes'', lack a cell wall, and its peptidoglycan, around their cell membrane. The absence of peptidoglycan makes them naturally resistant to antibiotics ...

-like organisms *1971;

Theodor Otto Diener Theodor Otto Diener (28 February 1921 – 28 March 2023) was a Swiss-American plant pathologist. In 1971, he discovered that the causative agent of the potato spindle tuber disease is not a virus, but a novel agent, which consists solely of a sh ...

discovers viroids, organisms smaller than viruses

References

{{reflist Economic botany Wikipedia timelines Phytopathology