Corné M. J. Pieterse

Aurelio Ciancio

Jesús Mercado-Blanco

The use of biocontrol agents and beneficial organisms for management of plant and pest diseases appears as an environment-friendly and economic procedure. However, this option is not always available, depending on the lack of knowledge on the mechanisms of natural regulation, locally effective. In this view, this eBook considers studies and experimental works illustrating a range of problems and solutions based on microbial resources, suitable for management of biotic stress factors. These examples show how detailed data and knowledge on the organisms involved are of paramount importance to achieve a sustainable and durable management capability.

Harnessing Useful Rhizosphere Microorganisms for Pathogen and Pest Biocontrol, Volume II

This compendium reviews different processes acting on bacterial groups that evolved one or more relationships with members of the most important invertebrate Phyla. Starting from principles of basic bacteriology the book provides data on bacteria interactions with pests, animal or human diseases. Being present in all environments, from deep see to crops, animals or plants, invertebrates represent the most significant and ancient fraction of the eukaryotic biomass on earth. Their evolutive adaptations and links with bacteria, established over time scales of ages, range from vectored diseases to speciation, within a wide range of environmental niches and biocenosis, including oceanic hydrothermal vents. Main functional processes include pathogenicity, parasitism, transmission, immunity, symbiosis and speciation. A review about recent advances achieved in these research topics is given, focussing on one or more aspects concerning significant evolutive paths of bacteria and underlying functional links. Rather than proceeding through the order and structure of taxonomies, the volume is organized by processes, examining their functional role in different lineages, including but not limited to insects or nematodes. Processes involved in parasitism focus, at a finer level, on examples from many taxa. Molecular aspects underpinning these and other functional processes include the effects of horizontal gene transfer, the mechanisms active in immune defense and vectoring, and the antibacterial peptides. Finally, the effects of climate warming, biological invasions and agriculture are examined, with particular attention to farming and environment.

Function, Evolution and Biological Ties

Invertebrate Bacteriology

K.G. Mukerji

This is the last volume of the IPMD series. It aims, in a multi-disciplinary approach, at reviewing and discussing recent advances and achievements in the practice of crop protection and integrated pest and disease management. This last effort deals with management of arthropods, and is organized with a first section on biological control in citrus orchards, a second one on advanced and integrated technologies for insect pest management and a last section, dealing with mites and their biological control. A wide and exaustive literature already covers several aspects of chemical or biological control of insects and mites, but there is still a need for a more holistic vision of management, accounting for different problems and solutions, as they are applied or developed, in different regions and cropping systems, worldwide. In this series we attempted to fill this gap, providing an informative coverage for a broad range of agricultural systems and situations.

Integrated Management of Arthropod Pests and Insect Borne Diseases

This series originated during a visit of prof. K. G. Mukerji to the CNR Plant Protection Institute at Bari, Italy, in November 2005. Both editors convened to produce a series of five volumes focusing, in a multi-disciplinary approach, on recent advances and achievements in the practice of crop protection and integrated pest and disease management. This fourth Volume deals with management of nematodes parasitic of tree crops, and includes a section on tropical fruit crops and commodities, as well as a second section on tree crops from more temperate areas. The latter also includes a chapter updating the current knowledge about the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Volume 4 flanks Volume 2 of this IMPD series, which focused on management of vegetable and grain crops nematodes. Nematodes are a very successful, diversified and specialised animal group, present in nature in any ecological niche. Among nematode species, only a reduced number feeds on plants, of which a few species cause severe economic impacts on crop productions. Plant parasitic nematodes represent an important concern for a broad range of agricultural productions and systems, worldwide. This statement explains the attention devoted in last decades to nematodes, and the research and technical efforts invested for their control.

Integrated Management of Fruit Crops and Forest Nematodes

This volume focuses on integrated pest and disease management (IPM/IDM) and biocontrol of some key diseases of perennial and annual crops. It continues a series originated during a visit of prof. K. G. Mukerji to the CNR Plant Protection Institute in Bari (Italy), in November 2005. Both editors aim at a series of five volumes embracing, in a multi-disciplinary approach, advances and achievements in the practice of crop protection, for a wide range of plant parasites and pathogens. Two volumes of the series were already produced, dedicated to general concepts in IPM and to management and biocontrol of nematodes of grain crops and vegetables. This Volume deals, in particular, with diseases due to bacteria, phytoplasma and fungi. Every day, in any agroecosystem, farmers face problems related to plant diseases. Since the beginning of agriculture, indeed, and probably for a long time in the future, farmers will continue to do so. Every year, plant diseases cause severe losses in the global production of food and other agricultural commodities, worldwide. Plant diseases are not limited to episodic events occurring in single farms or crops, and should not be regarded as single independent cases, affecting only farms on a local scale. The impact of plant disease epidemics on food shortage ignited, in the last two centuries, deep cultural, social and demographic changes, affecting million human beings, through i. e. migration, death and hunger.

Aurelio Ciancio

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