Abiotic Disorders

Abiotic agents of disease are non-living factors Abiotic agents are

• Non infectious and Non-transmissible. Plant diseases deriving from these agentshave
been referred to as physiological diseases or environmental diseases

Water Management

• One of the major causes of abiotic plant disorders is improper water application.

• Too much water can kill roots.

• Examples of abiotic disorders related to water are leaf scorch, winter desiccation,and
oxygen starvation

Leaf Scorch

• Symptoms of leaf scorch

• Necrosis (browning) of leaf edges and between the veins.

These are naturally the least hydrated areas of a deciduous leaf When moisture is lost,
symptoms appear there first. Scorch symptoms on needled evergreens appear as
necrosis from the needle tips downward in a uniform pattern.

• The initial reaction to these symptoms is to provide more water

• Water may be lost faster than it can be replaced.

• Warm, windy, and sunny weather during winter months causes rapid transpiration at a
time when soil moisture may be frozen.

• During summer, sunny, hot, and windy weather causes such rapid transpiration that
roots cannot physically keep up with the loss

• Soil water may be available, but roots may not be functioning properly to absorb it.

• What causes roots to function poorly?

✓Soil may be so compacted

✓Roots may be severed or otherwise damaged from construction activities or garden

cultivation.

✓Planting too deep limits oxygen availability

✓A thick layer of mulch or black plastic covering also injures them

• Mechanical damage on lower stems or trunks from mowing equipment

• Improper planting, improper staking, animal chewing, or boring insects may also
prevent or slow water uptake.

• The bottom line is that more water is lost than can easily be replaced.

Oxygen Starvation

• Oxygen starvation occurs when excess water in the soil drives out oxygen, in effect
“suffocating” roots.

• Plants respond by dropping the lower leaves that are usually yellowed or necrotic.

• Leaf loss is most noticeable from the inside of the plant out and the bottom up. In
addition, leaves may be smaller than normal, growth increments may be small, and the
plant may have an overall unthrifty appearance.

• While oxygen starvation causes root damage, the first symptoms appears on the
canopy, stems, and branches. These parts are the furthest from the water source

• To control problems caused by water management issues, identify and determine

which factor or (usually) combination of factors is causing the problem.

• Management strategies are based on good horticultural practices. For example,

• Add organic matter to improve drainage as well as water-holding capacity.

• Cut back on irrigation frequency

• Core aerate turf, which will also benefit tree roots growing in it.

• Apply and maintain mulch at appropriate level

• Remove any black plastic in the landscape.

Winter desiccation

• Caused by dry winter winds that result in leaf water loss.

• Water cannot be replaced as the soil is too cold and roots cannot absorb it.

• Symptoms

• Necrotic leaf or needle tissue (typically from the tips inward)

• Discoloration of needle or leaf tissue, and patchy damage distribution on individual

plants in windy locations.
• Plants exhibit symptoms the under droughty summer conditions

Temperature

• LOW TEMPERATURE

• The amount and type of damage depends on

• How quickly temperatures drop and the lowest temperature reached

• How long it sustained.

• Freeze injury may be caused by frost crystals that form in or outside of plant tissues

• Damage resembles herbicide phytotoxicity, bacterial blight, and branch flagging due
to insect borer activity

• Temperatures above optimal growth cause injury on leaves that are exposed to the sun
and tissue that is furthest away from water such as outer branch tips, leaf margins, and
between leaf veins.

Chemical Injury

• Chemical injury is plant damage caused by pesticides, fertilizers, de-icing salts, and
other products.Herbicides(weed killers)

• Symptoms

✓Chlorosis

✓Necrosis

✓Distortion, and

✓Elongated growth.

❑Glyphosate, dicamba, and 2,4-D are examples of common herbicides that cause
chemical injury to desirable plants when used incorrectly.

• Herbicides that behave like PGRs such as dicamba and 2,4- D, translocate through
both the xylem and phloem. They stimulate growth such as cell division, elongation,
and fruit and flower production
• Excessive concentrations cause twisting and curling of stems, stem swelling,
weakened cell walls, rapid cell growth, and cellular and vascular damage and death.

• Herbicides that behave like PGRs such as dicamba and 2,4- D, translocate through
both the xylem and phloem. They stimulate growth such as cell division, elongation,
and fruit and flower production

• Excessive concentrations cause twisting and curling of stems, stem swelling,

weakened cell walls, rapid cell growth, and cellular and vascular damage and death.

• Glyphosate is an amino acid inhibitor that interferes with synthesis of certain amino
acids.

• Glyphosate moves through the phloem to the new growth of shoots and roots.

• Injury symptoms include chlorosis, shortened internodes (compact growth or

stunting), stem proliferation, and mimics damage caused by 2,4-D and other PGR s,
viruses, phytoplasmas, mites, and environmental factors.

Fertilizers

• An excess or shortage of the 17 essential elements required for plant growth and
development may cause plant damage.

• Excess amounts of fertilizers can “burn” plants due to the level of salts in fertilizers.

• Leaf margin necrosis (similar to drought stress in appearance), leaf discoloration, soft
rapid growth, and vegetative growth at the expense of flower and fruit production.

• Nutrient deficiencies include chlorosis, interveinalchlorosis, blossom-end rot,

stunting, and purpling.

• Symptoms of nutrient excesses and deficiencies may be confused with disease,

insect, mite, or other environmental problems.

• When excess fertilizer has been applied, apply water in an effort to leach salts from
the root zone. Quick release fertilizers are more prone to “burn” plants.

• Follow label directions when applying fertilizers to avoid plant damage.

Salts

1) Salt burn on foliage

2) Root burn of salts

3) Soil buildup that deteriorates soil structure, interfering with drainage and root growth.
• Symptoms of salt spray on leaves include stem and leaf deformities, witches’ brooms,
and twig dieback of deciduous plants.

• Symptoms of salt accumulation in soils are different from salt spray and include
marginal leaf scorch, stunting, and twig dieback.

• Leaf scorch may not appear until later in the season or in following seasons.

• To reduce salt burn, avoid de-icing salts, add organic matter and charcoal to the soil,
leach with water, or protect plants using a barrier that will keep salt-laden snow away
from plant material.

Sample Questions

• Accurate diagnosis is dependent on accurate

Observation.

• 1. What symptoms is the plant expressing?

• 2. How many plants are affected?

• 3. Is there a pattern associated with the problem north side, south side, etc.)?

• 4. Are there any differences in susceptibility of varieties or species (i.e. is it just the
tomatoes or are other plants also affected)?

• 5. Ask about obvious causes first, such as animals, frost, flooding, or mechanical
damage.

• 6. Determine which part of the plant is actually damaged. Wilts …. Damage to the
roots. Dieback of branches is sometimes caused by cankers or mechanical damage
further down the stem.

• 7. Are the roots healthy appearing (not black or mushy) and moist? Note: You may not
be able to diagnose the problem without roots.

• 8. What about the texture and wetness of the soil? Is it too heavy, sandy, or
compacted? Is salt crusting evident?

• 9. What is the weed population? (Weeds may indicate a particular soil problem.)

• 10. Find out the previous history: fertilizer, pesticides, land leveling, cultivation
methods, irrigation schedules, and climatic conditions.

• 11. There are many other questions that you may think to ask based on the specific
sample.
Identify Plant and Its Normal Characteristics

• What the “normal” plant would look like?

• Describe the damage using terms like “gall”, “witches broom”, and “chlorotic.”

• Establish the location on the plant where initial damage occurred. For example, there
are leaf spots with fruiting structures on the underside of leaves, but these symptoms
are not what caused tree death. Cankers along the branches and trunk are what killed
the tree.

• Distinguishing the factor that caused plant death from other symptoms and signs can
be tricky. In turfgrass, many times sclerotia, fruiting bodies, and conidia are spotted in
necrotic and problematic areas. However, these disease-causing structures may not be
related to turfgrass death.

Identify Pattern of Plant Damage

• Uniform damage patterns on plants are typically characteristic of nonliving or abiotic

factors (mechanical, physical, or chemical factors).

• Random damage patterns indicates a living or biotic agent of disease. Biotic factors
include fungi, bacteria, or nematodes.

• Important note: You may come to a diagnosis but may realize the diagnosis does not
seem quite right. Keep an open mind, go back through your questions, and take a
different diagnostic avenue.

Distinguish Between Biotic and Abiotic Factors

• Signs of biotic pathogen activity will always be present. It is a matter of whether the
sign is observed.

• First, closely study plant damage.

• Mentally identify possible causal agents. Then look for signs that would accompany
such damage.

• Signs of disease include fruiting structures, overwintering structures, mycelium,

insect frass or carcasses, and ooze. Because some diseases are vectored by insects,
signs that the vector are present are equally as important as finding signs of the
disease.

• In addition, some types of disease symptoms mimic symptoms of insect or vertebrate

damage. It is critical, therefore, to distinguish between insect and pathogen damage.
• If no signs are observed, abiotic activity should be considered. Ask questions
regarding mechanical, physical, and chemical factors.

• Mechanical factors include string trimmer damage to tree trunks, improper pruning
cuts, injury during transportation of plant material. Physical factors include temperature
extremes, light differentials, and extreme changes in oxygen and moisture levels.
Chemical factors include pesticide damage, fertilizer damage, nutritional disorders, and
pollutants.

Plant Responses to Environmental Stress:

Plants have a number of mechanisms to cope with stresses in their environment, which
include such physical conditions as water (too much as well as drought), temperature
(hot and cold), saline soils and oxygen deprivation, as well coping with biotic stresses
such as predators and pathogens.

Physical Stresses in the Environment Water Plants respond to potential dehydration by

• Leaf drop,

• Xeromorphic leaf structure

• Leaf or stem succulence

• Deep taproots

• Abscisic acid monitors water condition in cells and leads to stomatal closure to
minimize immediate water loss.

Abscisic Acid and LEA Proteins:

• Synthesis of LEA proteins (late embryogenesis proteins).

• LEA proteins occur naturally in maturing seeds as they desiccate for dormancy.

• The LEA proteins help to stabilize the membranes and other proteins of the
dehydrated cells

• LEA genes can also help plants grow better during drought.

Heat
• Plants have poor heat-regulating mechanisms.

• Their metabolism, in particular, can be seriously impacted by hot temperatures.

• Transpiration

• Close stomata, and that shuts down transpiration.

• Plants synthesize a class of proteins which may function to protect enzymes that
would be denatured by the excess heat. These proteins are called heat-shock proteins.

Cold

• Plants produce more unsaturated membrane fatty acids in cold temperatures to

maintain membrane fluidity needed for transport proteins.

• This process works for gradual cooling.

• Most plants drop fragile parts prior to the cold onset

• Sudden frosts have a serious impact on plant

• Ice crystals form in plant tissues when air temperatures fall below freezing

• Antifreeze proteins to retard growth of ice crystals within cells.

Salts

• High concentrations of mineral salts decrease water absorption.

• High concentrations of some mineral salts, such as sodium, are also directly toxic to
plants.

• Halophytes

• Most have active salt glands in leaf epidermal cells that excrete salt. Water from the
atmosphere condenses on the salt secreted on the surface of the leaves.

Oxygen
Oxygen (O) is responsible for cellular respiration in plants. This element plays a
critical role in photosynthesis and is both stored for energy and released as a by
product.
Steps
- Oxygen form the atmosphere.
- Enters the leaf via the stomata.
- React with sugars from photosynthesis.
- Produce energy for the plant.

Symptoms and signs Symptoms:

• Symptoms of disease are the plant’s reaction to the causal agent.

• Definition: An indication of disorder or disease, especially when experienced by an

individual as a change from normal function

• Sensation, or appearance.

• Signs are the actual organisms causing the disease.

• Blight – A rapid discoloration and death of twigs, foliage, or flowers.

• Canker – Dead area on bark or stem, often sunken or raised.

• Chlorosis – Yellowing –Chlorosis is so generic that without additional details

diagnosis is impossible.

• Decline – Progressive decrease in plant vigor.

• Dieback – Progressive death of shoot, branch, or root starting at the tip.

• Distortion – Malformed plant tissue

• Gall or gall-like –Abnormal localized swelling or enlargement of plant part.

• Gummosis – Exudation of gum or sap.

• Leaf distortion – The leaf could be twisted, cupped, rolled, or otherwise deformed.

• Leaf scorch – Burning along the leaf margin and into the leaf from the margin.

• Leaf spot – A spot or lesion on the leaf.

• Mosaic – Varying patterns of light and dark plant tissue

• Necrosis – Dead tissue –Necrotic areas are also so generic that without additional
details diagnosis is impossible.

• Stunting – Slow growth rate

• Wilt – General wilting of the plant or plant part.

• Witches broom –Abnormal broom-like growth of many weak shoots.

• Insect feeding injury is also a symptom used in diagnosis, but not a symptom of
disease.

• The damaged tissue does not necessarily contains the organism causing the
symptoms.

• For example, a root rot can cause chlorosis and wilting of stems and leaves, but the
disease causal organism is in the roots.

• It is imperative to examine as much of the plant as possible to determine exactly

where the problem is originating.

Signs

• Signs are the actual organisms causing the disease. Signs include:

• Conks – Woody reproductive structures of fungi

• Fruiting bodies –Reproductive structures of fungi; could be in the form of

mushrooms, puffballs, pycnidia, rusts, conks

• Mildew– Whitish growth produced by fungi composed of mycelium

• Mushrooms – Fleshy reproductive structures of fungi

• Mycelium – Thread-like vegetative growth of fungi.

• Rhizomorphs – Shoestring-like fungal threads found under the bark of stressed and
dying trees caused by the Armillaria fungi.

They may glow!

• Slime Flux or Ooze – A bacterial discharge that oozes out of the plant tissues, may be
gooey or a dried mass.

• Spore masses – Masses of spores, the “seeds” of a fungus

• Insects and/or their frass (excrement) are also signs, although not signs of disease.

Biotic Disease

Biotic causes of disease include

• Fungi

• Bacteria
• Viruses

• Phytoplasmas

• Nematodes

• Parasitic plants

Fungi:

• Kingdom: Fungi • Cell walls: Chitin • No chlorophyll • Saprophyte or parasite

• Study of fungi: Mycology

Spore comes into contact with a susceptible plant, it germinate and enter the host
under proper environmental conditions. Hyphae develop from the germinated spore
and begin to

1. Extract nutrients from host plant cells.

2. Secrete enzymes to break organic materials that are ultimately absorbed through
their cell walls.

• Fungi damage plants by killing cells and/or causing plant stress.

• Fungi are spread by wind, water, soil, animals, equipment, and in plant material.

• They enter plants through natural openings –stomata, lenticels and wounds from
pruning, hail, and other mechanical damage.

• Fungi can also produce enzymes that break down the cuticle (the outer protective
covering of plants).

• Fungi cause a variety of symptoms including leaf spots, leaf curling, galls, rots, wilts,
cankers, and stem and root rots and “damping off”.

Bacteria:

• Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms.

• No nucleus

• Reproduce by dividing into two equal parts (fission).

• Bacteria function as either

➢Parasites

➢Saprophytes.

• Bacteria can infect all plant parts.

• Unlike fungi, bacteria must find a natural opening for entry.

• Bacterial cells can move from one plant to another in water, soil, and plant material,
just as fungi do.

• Bacterial pathogens are more dependent on water.

• Require very wet and/or humid conditions

• Bacteria move between plant cells

• Secrete substances to degrade plant cell walls

• Produce enzymes that break down plant tissue, creating soft rots or water-soaking.

• Like the fungi, bacteria cause symptoms such as

➢Leaf blights and spots

➢Galls

➢Cankers

➢Wilts and

➢Stem rots.

• Bacterial leaf spots appear different from fungal leaf spots due to their intercellular
movement.

• Veins often limit the development of a lesion, so they appear angular or irregular, not
round.

• It is difficult for beginners to tell fungal and bacterial plant symptoms apart.

Viruses:

• Viruses are crystalline particles composed of nucleic acid (RNA or DNA)

• They are obligate parasites

• Small virus particles can be found in all plant parts and cannot be seen without an
electron microscope.
• The particles must be transmitted by vectors

• Through a wound.

• The vector is an insect, nematode, or human. Insects and nematodes spread viruses
between plants as they feed on them.

• The feeding injury creates the necessary wound. Usually, a plant virus is spread by
only one kind of insect vector.

• Aphids, leafhoppers, and thrips are examples of virus vectors, but not all aphids,
leafhoppers, or thrips spread virus.

Humans may spread plant viruses as they

• Work in the garden

• Mechanical abrasion from infected tools

• Touching and abrading plants with infected hands

• Viruses overwinter in

O Infected perennial plants

O Insects

• Small portion of viruses is transmitted through

✓Seed

✓Vegetative propagation

• Viruses cause mottling, spots, mosaic-like patterns, crinkling, and other

malformations on leaves and fruits, and may stunt plants.

Because viruses are systemic, infected plants must be rogued or discarded Viruses are
named according to the first plant on which they were found and the type of symptom
they cause (i.e., cotton leaf curl virus, rose mosaic virus).

Phytoplasmas

• Bacteria: however, they lack a cell wall and can take on a variety of shapes.

• Obligate parasites
• Live in the phloem of host plants and are vectored by certain phloem-feeding insects,
such as leafhoppers.

• This pathogen causes distortion, yellowing, wilting, and “witches’ brooms”

• Immature leaf veins clear (vein-clearing”).

• Flower parts may become vegetative or produce sterile seeds.

Aster Yellows:

• Damages > 300 species of broad-leafed plants

• Commonly affected flowering plants include purple coneflower, cosmos, marigolds,

asters, Vegetables affected include carrots, lettuce, and potatoes.

Weeds such as dandelion, plantain, wild lettuce

• Aster yellows is spread by the aster (or six-spotted) leafhopper. These insects are
small (one-eighth inch long), gray-green, and wedge-shaped. They are called
leafhoppers because they move or fly away quickly when plants are disturbed.

• They feed only on plant sap (phloem tissue) and generally on leaf undersides.

• Once a leafhopper feeds on an infected plant, about 10 days to 3 weeks must elapse
for the insect to become infective.

• Plant symptoms appear 10 to 40 DPI.

• Dry weather can cause increased disease occurrence in the home garden as
leafhoppers move from plants in prairies and pastures to irrigated yards.

• Generally, aster yellows symptoms appear in middle to late summer.

Parasitic Plant:

• More than 2,500 species of higher plants • Parasitic plants produce flowers and
reproduce by seeds like other plants.

• The main difference is they cannot produce their own chlorophyll or produce only a
small amount of chlorophyll.

• Parasitic plants are spread in various ways including animals, wind, and forcible
ejection of their seeds.

• Dwarf mistletoe and dodder are two examples of parasitic plants

• Dwarf mistletoe has chlorophyll but no roots and depends on its host for water and
minerals, although it can produce carbohydrates in its green stems and leaves.

• Dodder cannot produce its own chlorophyll and completely depends on its host for
sustenance.

• Plants damaged by parasitic plants appear wilted, stunted, distorted, and chlorotic.

• Conifers, develop witches’ broom symptoms.

Nematodes

• Nematodes are microscopic roundworms that live in soil, water, and plant material.

• They have a spear-like stylet mouthpart

• Require free water to move about

• Reproduce by eggs.

• They spread in water, infected plant material, soil, and in some cases, insects.

• Nematodes symptoms

✓Stunting, yellowing, and wilting of plant tissue.

✓Some infected plants simply appear unthrifty.

✓Some develop strange, knot-like growths on their roots.

✓Many saprophytic and parasitic species exist.