Learn about plant diseases
- Their biology and lifecycles
- What plants are infected and by what pathogens
- How they are infected
- How disease spread may be controlled
Are you in the agriculture, horticulture, parks management, grounds keeping, work as a contractor for councils in pest and disease management? If yes, this course will benefit you!
Plant pathology is complex and this course is an easy to follow science based course which teaches you how to identify and treat pathogens on plants and crops. This is an extremely worthwhile course for anyone working on farms or small holdings, in nurseries or garden centres, as horticulturists or gardeners, as grounds or parks keepers...
Learn at home at your own pace! Tutor support throughout.
Course Structure
There are 8 lessons in this course:
- Introduction
- Types of Diseases
- The Lifecycle of a Disease
- Control Techniques
- Selected Pathogen Diseases ‑ Ornamentals
- Selected Pathogen Diseases ‑ Crops
- Non-Infectious Diseases
- Special Project
Diseases can be caused by a range of different types of organisms; including:
Viruses
These are very small (microscopic) particles composed of nucleic acid and protein. They exhibit many, but not all, characteristics of living organisms and, as such, are sometimes called a life form. At other times, they are not considered to be a life form.
Viruses can mutate. They cause many serious diseases, frequently causing symptoms such as variegation, or mottling of leaf colour. Some viruses are considered beneficial because of the variations they provide in leaf colour. Whether considered beneficial or not, viruses cause a general weakening of plants they infect, making the plant more susceptible to other problems, and frequently stunting growth to some degree.
Bacteria
Bacteria are one of the smallest living things, being just single-celled organisms. They enter plants through stomata (leaf pores), wounds or water pores (they cannot break directly through the cell walls of the "surface" of a plant. Bacteria can cause rots, blights, spots, galls, scabs and other symptoms (Note: Fungi can also cause many of these).
Fungi
Fungi are chlorophyll-less plants. They are either parasites (living on live tissue), or saprophytes (living on dead tissue). There are over 15,000 species known, and many are responsible for major plant diseases. They are thread-like organisms which grow amongst the tissue they derive their nutrition from. The individual threads are known as mycelium. To reproduce, they grow fruiting bodies from a mass of mycelium, and spores are produced in these fruiting bodies.
