Every living organism on this planet is prone to diseases and plants are not an exception to this. Taking good care of your plants starts from recognising any potential or present diseases that may affect your plants’ life. In this blog, we are going to briefly talk about some signs and symptoms of plant disease. Plant disease is basically any phenomena that hamper its growth and lifecycle, it is majorly characterized in two types: Infectious and Non-Infectious. Non-Infectious or abiotic plant diseases do not spread and are caused by non-living external agents. Factors such as pollution, frost or sun scorch, soil contamination, nutritional deficiencies damage the plants and stop their development. Infectious diseases in plants occur when other living organisms or “plant pathogens” start living on them and live on the nutrients inside the plant body.  These diseases can spread from plant to plant. They main organisms causing infectious diseases are bacteria, fungi and viruses. If you know what is causing the spread of the disease, you might be able to control it. Being aware of the signs and symptoms would help you find out the disease the moment it kicks in. But first, we need to know the difference between signs and symptoms and no, they are not the same things. The sign of plant disease is the visible evidence of the presence of a living organism on a plant. For example, the white powdering coating that occurs on leaves is the sign of the presence of fungi. And a symptom is the actual effect of the presence of a pathogen which is visible in the plant’s body. For example, damaged leaves with yellow strains are commonly found symptoms caused by a bacterial infection.

Fungal Diseases

The fungus is the main culprit in causing a wide range of plant diseases, much more than any other organism. They reproduce through spores and spread via wind, animals and seedlings. They cannot make their own food and hence rely on a plant’s body for sustenance. They get inside a plant through open pores such as stomata and kill plant cells. The main source of fungi is contaminated soil, infected seed, plant debris.

Signs of a Fungal Infection are:

• Stem rust
• Leaf rust
• Powdery mildew
• late blight of potato
• chestnut blight
• black stem rust of wheat
• coffee rust
• blister rust

Symptoms of a Fungal Infection are:

• Yellowing of leaves
• Brown patches on the bark
• Wilting of leaves
• Orange-red powdery spots on leaves
• Black patches on stem gradually destroying it
• Wilting of vegetables, flowers and even trees
• Stunted growth
• The water-soaked appearance of tissues and developments of black spores
• Birds-eye spot on berries
• Damping-off of seedlings

Bacterial Diseases

Existence of bacteria on our planet is important for the decomposition of dead waste and natural recycling process. However, there are thousands of species of bacteria which cause the death of living beings including plants. Bacterial infections enter inside the open tissues in plants and reproduce in moist weather and it spreads through wind and dust.

Signs of bacterial infections in Plants are:

• Bacterial discharge
• Water-soaked lesions

Symptoms of bacterial infections in Plants are:

• Decaying of roots and turning brown
• Stunting and Yellowing of parts
• Yellowish green spots on leaves
• Decay of tissues
• Dwarfing of stems
• Wilting of parts
• Fruit spot
• Canker
• Crown gall

Viral Diseases

The virus lives inside the cell of a living organism and multiplies inside it. It spreads through other insects or other foreign host body and transmits it inside the plant body. There are no signs of a Viral Infection as it lives inside the cell and it cannot be seen.

Symptoms of Viral Diseases are:

• It changes the colour of the plant from green to yellow
• Change in the formation and shape of the leaves and flowers
• leaf spots, ring spots, streaks, wilting
• dwarfing of leaves, stems, or entire plants
• stunting the overall development of plant

A plant’s growth can be affected by a number of factors and if any kind of change appears in the growth and appearance of plants, it needs to be paid attention to. There are other pathogens as well that can harm your plants and crop, like Nematodes and Phytoplasmas. There is a lot of overlap in the signs and symptoms of infections in plants; therefore, a proper diagnosis of the problem is important to provide the right solution. These are only a few examples and not the complete details of different plant diseases. Just like humans and animals, plants also suffer from thousands of diseases which need proper diagnose and solution.

About Nivshakti Bioenergy Pvt Ltd

 Niv Shakti Bioenergy is the largest manufacturers and suppliers of Bio-Pesticides, Bio-Insecticides, Bio-Fertilizers and Bio-Fungicides. We provide a vast range of products based on all kinds of Beneficiary Microbial Cultures which are manufactured using the World’s Latest Solid-State Fermentation Technology and Botanical Formulations manufactured from the Secondary Metabolites of Plant Extracts. Our vast range of agricultural products makes us one of the best organic fertilizer companies in India. We have been manufacturing eco-friendly solutions to resolve agricultural problems. We work for the plants with the plants.