Plant diseases caused by microbial pathogens remain one of the greatest challenges to global food security, threatening yield, quality, and sustainability of major crops. The shift from wild plants to high-yielding cultivars over centuries, while boosting productivity, inadvertently reduced natural resistance and exposed agriculture to devastating epidemics of wheat, rice, potato, and grapevine diseases. These events underscored the critical importance of developing durable resistance in crops.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution, principles, and modern strategies of crop disease management, with special emphasis on host plant resistance. It explores the role of conventional breeding, advances in biotechnology, and the use of biotic and abiotic inducers to strengthen plant defense systems. The text also highlights recent breakthroughs in molecular biology that explain the complex “molecular warfare” between plants and pathogens, offering fresh insights into developing sustainable solutions.

By integrating traditional practices with cutting-edge scientific tools, the book emphasizes eco-friendly, cost-effective, and durable disease management strategies that align with the goals of preserving agro ecosystem health while securing crop productivity.

Written in a clear and accessible style, the book will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, teachers, and graduate students in plant pathology, microbiology, crop science, and related disciplines, as well as for agricultural practitioners seeking long-term solutions to combat plant diseases.

P. Narayanasamy: Former Professor and Head, Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003, India

1. Introduction

2. Establishment of Identity of Microbial Plant Pathogens

3.Molecular Biology of Plant Pathogenesis

4. Crop Disease Management

5. Development of Integrated Disease Management Systems for Crop Disease