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History History means chronological account of important

events, contributions of persons who influenced the

thinking of their era.

Plant Pathology Pathology = Greek word 'pathos' and ‘logos’.

'Pathos' means suffering & 'logos' means the study.

HISTORY OF PLANT PATHOLOGY HISTORY OF PLANT PATHOLOGY IN INDIAIN INDIA

Four PhasesFour Phases:-:-1.1.Ancient periodAncient period2.2.Dark periodDark period3.3.Renaissance periodRenaissance period4.4.Modern periodModern period

1.1. ANCIENT PERIODANCIENT PERIOD

Historically, plant pathology in India is quite ancient as the Indian agriculture, which is nearly 4000 years old.

History of plant pathology is best referred from the ancient literatures.

There are references in the Vedas about plant diseases and the methods of their control.

Such control methods have also been recorded in other books.

•

• The events of the development of plant pathology in India are chronologically recorded as follows.

Rigveda, (3700 BC),

Artha Shastra (321-186 BC),

Sushruta Samhita (200-500AD),

Vishnu Purana (500 AD),

Agnipurana (500-700 AD),

Vrikshayurveda (1000 A D)

• In those time learned people also knew that the diseases were caused by microorganisms.

Symptoms of plant diseases are cited in other ancient Indian literatures viz. Jataka of Buddhism, Raghuvamsha of Kalidas etc.

The oldest document on the use of organic materials to control crop disorders is probably Kautilya’s Arthasastra.

Kautilya recommended that seed should be left in open for 7 days & this was the oldest reference of seed treatment with solar radiation.

It was Someshwara Deva who first suggested treatment of seed with ash to ensure good germination.

Ancient Period

Theophrastus (370-286 B.C.)

•A Greek Scholar.

• He was a disciple of Plato and colleague of Aristotle.

• Most of his works is lost,

• Two of his books, Historia plantarum and De Causis plantarum used as reference of his work.

Father of botany

• He Studied and wrote about the diseases of trees, cereals

and legumes.

• He mentioned plant diseases (rusts,mildews,blights) but

expressed that these were due to bad nutrition and air.

• He was not aware that microorganisms caused diseases.

• His approach was speculative rather than experimental.

SURAPAL (1500 BC)

• Vrikshayurveda by Surapal (India) is the first book in India where he gave detail account of plant diseases and their control.

• ‘Vrikshayurveda’ literally means Ayurveda of plants.

• The original text of Vrikshayurveda were unavailable till Y L Nene(Chairman,AAF) procured it from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK.

• Nalini Sadhale undertook the translation of the text at Nene's request translated Sanskrit text of Vrikshayurveda into English.

In this book, plant diseases were categorized into two groups, Internal (physiological diseases) and external (infectious diseases).

External diseases were supposed to be due to attack of microorganisms and insects.

Tree surgery, protective covering with pastes were mentioned and still recommended.

In chemical treatments, use of honey, ghee, milk, barley flour, pastes made from herbs, plant extracts, etc., were recommended.

For the control of root diseases, oilcakes of mahua, mustard, sesame, castor, etc., were used.

CONTENTS OF VRIKSHAYURVEDA

DARK PERIOD

•5th century-16th century•Also called pre-renaissance period in history•No increase in the knowledge of plant pathology

PRE-MODERN/ RENAISSANCE PERIOD (17TH –MID 19TH)

Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)•He was a merchant and had no formal

training at university.•He made first simple microscope by placing

ground glasses between two metal plates.

•With this objects could be magnified upto 300 times.

•He first observed bacteria under microscope and after seeing that he said…

“Dear God,what marvels there are in so small a creature”

1729A.D.-Pier Antonio Micheli (Italian)

Observed fungal spores for the first time on watermelon conducted many spore germination studies in 1729

He published a book “Nova Plantarum Genera” in which he gave descriptions about 1900 species in Latin out of which 900 were fungi.

Father of Mycology.

MODERN PERIOD/ GOLDEN ERA/PATHOGENIC ERA (1800–1900)

IRISH FAMINE

In 1845, the potato crop in Ireland was completely wiped out by late blight disease

caused great famine in 1846.

This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people

Immigration of more than one and a half million Irish to United States.

1831 A.D - Anton de Bary (Germany) •Established that fungi are the causes, not result of plant diseases

•Renamed the casual organism of late blight as Phytophthora infestans.

•He discovered heteroecious nature of rust fungi(1865)

•Detailed life cycles of downy mildew

•He wrote a book named “Morphology and Physiology of fungi, Lichens and Myxomycetes” (1866).

1876 A. D. -ROBERT KOCH 1876 A. D. -ROBERT KOCH

Estalished criteria for proving parasitism “Koch’s postulates”.

Father of bacteriological techniques.

Causal agent of Tuberculosis.

Beijerinck (Dutch)•Father of Virology.•He gave the theory “Contagium vivum fluidum”.

N.A. Cobb •Father of Nematology•Contributed a lot to nematode morphology, taxonomy and methodology.

•Founder of Virology

•Father of Nematology

HISTORY OF INDIAN PLANT PATHOLOGISTS Edwin John Butler (1874-1943)•Father of Indian Plant Pathology.•Born in 1874 Kilkee,County clare•He was the son of Thomas Butler(British).•Plant pathological research started in India

in 1905 with the establishment of Imperial

Agricultural Institue at Pusa, Samastipur

(Bihar).•He was appointed as the first Imperial mycologist.•His work on Phytophthora blight of potato and fusarial wilt of pigeon pea in 1906 & 1910 were pioneer contributions.

Other contributions include his classical work on genus Pythium and Chytridiaceous fungi.

He made extensive work on red rot of sugarcane and its control in 1906 & 1913.

His great contribution to plant pathology in India is reflected through the book “Fungi and Diseases in Plants” written in 1918.

About 200 diseases of Indian crops were included which he studied in the field and in the laboratory.

This book become a classics for Indian plant pathologists. Hence,Sir E.J.Butler is rightly credited as the “Father of Plant Pathology

in India” for laying the sound foundation of Plant Pathology.

• He is commemorated by Butler Medal was initiated by the Society of Irish Plant Pathologists in 1977.

PROF. J.F.DASTUR (1886-1971) Jehangir Fardunji Dastur Born on 10 sep,1886 at Bhavnagar, Gujrat. He was a colleague of E.J. Butler. First Indian plant pathologist who was

credited for his detailed studies on fungi and

plant diseases. He studied the Phytophthora diseases of potato and castor

(in 1915 and 1917). He is internationally known for establishment of species

Phytophthora parasitica from castor.

K.C. MEHTA (1892-1950)

Dr. K.C. Mehta was born in Amritsar in 1892.

His field of specialisation was Plant Pathology.

He is famous for his research regarding the recurrence of rust in the plains in India.

In 1920 he went to Cambridge University where he worked on the Black Rust of Cereals.

He was awarded Ph.D. degree by Cambridge University in 1922.

In 1923 he became Professor of Botany at Agra College He made outstanding contribution to the disease cycle of

rust in india.

He was the first person to initiate studies on epidemiology of wheat rusts.

He worked on recurrence of Black rust in the plains of India.

He concluded that the infection (uredospore) spreads from Himalayas in the North and Nilgiri and Pallni Hills in the south India.

He also highlited the prevalence and distribution of several races of wheat rusts in India.

He was pioneer in establishing Flowerdale Rust Laboratory (now under DWR,Karnal) where pathotype analysis of rust is taken.

In his honour,this laboratory launched the Newsletter “Mehtaensis”(named after Mehta) in 1981.

Published a monograph entitled “Further studies on cereal rusts in India” in 1948 (Mehta,1948).

Clearly, he was a most intellectual and diligent person who laid a strong foundation to combat cereal rusts.

-Life cycle of Rust fungus-

DR. RAGHUBIR PRASADA

He was trained by K. C. Mehta. Was born in 1907 in Uttar Pradesh. Contributed a lot by identification of physiological races of

cereal rusts. Described life cycle of Flax rust. Also made significant contribution on Alternaria blight of

wheat. He was editing the journal Indian Phytopathology for six years

as chief editor. Established Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology at

Udaipur in 1971.

B.B.MUNDKUR (1896-1952) Full name “Balachandra Bhawanishankar Mundkur” Born on June 26, 1896,in Mundkar village

near Mangalore. After receiving his Doctorate degree in 1931

from USA he was appointed as mycologist in

the division of mycology at IARI, Pusa, Bihar. He started work on control of cotton wilt in Maharashtra and

reduced losses to a large extent. His most significant contribution was establishment of IPS

‘‘Indian Phytopathological Society” in 1947 with its Journal ‘Indian Phytopathology’ in 1948.

• The credit for identifying and classifying the smut fungi found in India also goes to Mundkur.

• Wrote book “Fungi and Plant Diseases” (1949).

• Wrote monographs in collaboration with Dr. M. J. Thirumalachar

. (I) Ustilaginales of India,

(II) Supplements of fungi of India

(III) Genera of Rusts

Mandyayam Jeersannidhi Thirumalachar (1914-1999)•Born on Sep 1914 at Malleswaram, Bangalore.

•He was a great scholar and knowledgeable in

various shastras in Sanskrit.

•Discovered several antifungal antibiotics like Aureofungin, Haymycin, Streptocyclin, Antiamoebin.

•Isolated a new marine fungus Geotrichum marinum.

•In his own words “It can grow directly on the oil in the ocean & uses oil as a C & N source.”

• Conducted extensive studies in smuts and rusts.

• Wrote monograph on “Ustilaginales of India, Uredinales of the World, Physoderma, Cephalosporium.

• His joint work with Dr. Mundkur on “Genera of Rusts” is a standard reference work on Urediniomycetes.

• He was twice elected president of the Indian Phytopathological Society (1956 & 1965).

Sachindra Nath Dasgupta (1902- 1990)•Born at Jalpaiguri on Nov 4,1902.•Started his career as reader in Botany at

the University of Lucknow.•Carried out extensive studies on Black tip

of mango, aquatic fungi, saltation in fungi.•A detailed study of saltation in fungi with reference to

that occuring in Cytosporina, Phomopsis and

Diaporthe was made.•He described over 70 species of aquatic fungi.

Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivan(1913- 2001)

•Was born in Madras (Now Chennai) on 22 May 1913.•In 1941 he took up the position of microbiologist at the Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur, now in Pakistan.•Demonstrated the fusaric acid production by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vasinfectum.•Worked out the mechanisms of wilting in cotton due to this pathogen.

• His concepts included production of toxins and antibiotics in soil and in the rhizosphere of plants.

• Started the studies on bio-chemistry of host-parasite relationship.

• His most remarkable work was concept of vivotoxins.

Jaychand Luthra and Sattar•In 1931 they developed Solar heat treatment technique to control loose smut disease in wheat. Method•Soak the seeds in cold water and then spread in thin layer on threshing floor or on galvanized iron sheets during summer in between 12.00 to 4.00 p.m

Yeshwant Laxman Nene

•Son of Laxman and Laxmi Nene

•Born on 24 November 1936 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

•Worked in ICRISAT for 22 years (1974-96).

•He also worked as an honorary Chairman of the newly founded (1994) Asian Agri-History Foundation (AAHF).

•Worked earlier as Professor at GBPUA & T, during 1960’s.

He authored the book “Fungicides in Plant Disease Control” (Nene,1971)

Reported Khaira disease of rice at Pantnagar due to Zinc deficiency(1965).

This practical problem solving research earned him an FAO award in 1966.

He described two viral diseases (Leaf crinckle and Leaf curl) affecting mungbean for the first time.

He made remarkable contribution in solving the mystery of chickpea “wilt complex”.

Dr. Subramaniam Nagarajan

•Born on November 1945 in Chennai,India.•He is internationally respected as a wheat pathologist, •He has been awarded with the Borlaug  award recently.•Due to Nagarajan's work, for the last 12 years there has been no serious crop loss due to rust epidemics.•Formulated ‘Indian Stem Rust Rules’ for Puccinia graminis tritici.•Along with his colleagues, he identified two new leaf rust resistance genes: Lr48 and Lr49

C.D. MayeeCharudatta Digambarrao Mayee.Born in Maharashtra, India on July 15, 1946.Director of the  Central Institute of Cotton Research  (CICR) in NagpurDr C. D. Mayee, Chairman,  Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB)Former co-chairman of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC).

Under his chairmanship, GEAC approved over 300 hybrid Bt cotton seeds.

• “Father of Bt cotton in india”

• Contributed to the understanding of groundnut rust, sunflower downy mildew.

• Wrote Phytopathometry.

C.V. Subramanian•Chiryathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian.

•His studies on classification of Hyphomycetes and taxonomy and biology of fungi are widely recognized.

•He worked mainly on the taxonomy of Hyphomycetes.

•He organized the first International Symposium on Taxonomy of Fungi at Chennai.

R.S.Singh•A dynamic teacher,researcher,writer at Pantnagar.

•Worked intensively on biological control & ecology of soil borne pathogens.

•Wrote a classic book on “Plant Diseases” published in 1963 which is known as Lighthouse of plant pathology in India.

•This book is also known as “Bible of Plant Pathology”.

RAJENDER KUMAR GROVER He was born on Ist. April, 1931 at Gujaranwal, Punjab,

India (now in Pakistan).

He served as Professor and Head, Deptt. of

Plant Pathology, CCSHAU, Hisar from Dec. 1969 to

May 1974 and again from Nov. 1974 to Aug,1978.

He became Dean, College of Agriculture on

May 1983.

He conducted research on various aspects of plant diseases especially on Bio-ecological interaction of fungitoxicants for efficient disease control.

His contributions to the soil borne diseases management have been widely recognized throughout the world.

He was member of editorial board of Indian Phytopathological Society from 1974-76 and President of the society in 1985.

He was also President of Indian Soc. of Mycology and Plant Pathology for the year 1988.

He passes away on 30 th. December, 2007.

He is remembered with great respect and admiration not only by his students but also by his professional colleagues

B.N. UppalB.N. Uppal•He worked on Downey mildew of Maize, Bajara and showed physiologic specialization in Sclerospora graminicola. He worked on several fungal and bacterial diseases.  

G.S. KulkarniG.S. Kulkarni Downey mildew of Sorghum and Pearl millet, Sorghum smut.

G.RangaswamiG.Rangaswami Nematode, bacterial and other diseases. Published 5 books of microbiology and plant pathology and over 300 research papers.

HISTORY OF BACTERIOLOGY IN INDIA

Makanji Kalyanji Patel• Born in Bardoli Gujarat in 1899.•Laid the foundation of Phytobacteriology in India.

•First described a new species Xanthomonas

campestris pv. uppali in 1948 from host Ipomoea muricata.

•First documented that black spot of mango is caused by Pseudomonas mangiferaeindicae later pathogen renamed as Xanthomonas campestris s.pv. mangiferaeindicae.

• Advocated the family Phytobacteriaceae to include all plant pathogenic bacteria.

• Also called as “Father of Indian Plant Bacteriology”.

• He described more than 30 diseases from India including bacterial leaf spot of Cyamopsis tetragonaloba, bacterial leaf spot of Amaranthus viridis.

Jeevan Prakash verma•His major contribution was on Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum causing bacterial blight of cotton.

•This led to a solid foundation to Indian Phytopathology and cotton bacteriology.

•Also reported that thickness of cell wall play a prominent role in gram reaction.

•He wrote 16 books including a book on Bacterial Blight of Cotton.

M.K.Hingorani

•He reported about complex nature of Tundu disease of wheat.

•It is caused by a bacterium, Corynebacterium tritici and a nematode, Anguina tritici in 1952.

•Confirmed causal agent of ring disease of potato as Pseudomonas solanacearum.

•In 1959, he first reported Xanthomonas punicae pv. punici causing bacterial blight of pomegranate.

J.N.ChandHe worked at CCS Haryana Agricultural UniversityContributed a lot on host-plant resistance to various diseases of legume crops.

Y. S. Kulkarniworked on bacterial leaf spot of castor, stem canker of Pigeon pea.Also first demonstrated biological control of bacterial wilt of potato using antagonistic microbes.

CONTRIBUTIONS IN PLANT VIROLOGY

S.P.Raychaudhuri (1916-2005)Syama Prasad Raychaudhuri.First observed virus particles in sunhemp mosaic disease.He observed all leaf-hopper borne plant viruses are transmitted in a persistent manner except Rice tungro virus (Semi-persistent manner).

Anupam varmaInitiated work on molecular biology in India which led to understanding of disease caused by begomo, nano,poty viruses.

Narayan rishiStudied viral diseases of legumes and their management.