The spread of pathogens within crop areas; epiphytotics

Abstract

In this chapter are considered some of the ways in which pathogens multiply and spread through populations of susceptible plants, sometimes causing extensive outbreaks of disease if conditions for development of the pathogen are favourable. A comprehensive account of these aspects is given by Van der Plank (1963) in a book which, for the first time, puts the epidemiology of plant pathogens on a mathematical basis and ‘… is a landmark in the history of Plant Pathology, giving us for the first time a coherent and developed theory of plant epidemiology, a notable intellectual achievement’ (Gregory, 1965). The factors which influence the spread of pathogens through crop areas are considered in the following chapter.