WELCOME
TO
ALL
Prof. M. Ashrafuzzaman
Dept. Plant Pathology, BAU
History of Plant Pathology
Four Phases
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ancient period
Dark period
Renaissance period
Modern period
Ancient Period
Theophrastus (300-286 B.C.)
•Study and write about the diseases
of trees, cereals and legumes in his
book enquiry into plants
•His approach was observational and
speculative rather than experimental.
•Theory of spontaneous
generation
Father of botany
DARK PERIOD
 300AD
and 1300AD
 Also called pre-renaissance period in
history
 no increase in the knowledge of plant
pathology
PRE-MODERN/ RENAISSANCE PERIOD/AUTOGENIC ERA (17th –mid 19th)



1675 A. D.-Anton van
Leeuwenhoek (Holland)
Invented compound microscope in
1675
In 1683 he described bacteria seen
with this microscope
1729 A. D.-Pier Antonio Micheli (Italian)
•Observed fungal spores for the first time and
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.
3) 1755 A. D.-Tillet (French)
•Published a paper on bunt or
stinking smut of wheat
•He reported the chemical
treatment of seeds
MODERN PERIOD/ GOLDEN ERA/PATHOGENIC ERA (1800 – 1900)
IRIS 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.
4) 1853 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
•Detailed life cycles of downy mildew
•He wrote a book named “Morphology
and Physiology of fungi, lichens and
Myxomycetes” (1866).
•father mode
Mycology
8) 1879 A. D.- Robert Koch
•Established the germ theory
Germ theory
diseases are caused by the presence
and actions of specific micro-organisms
that microorganisms are the cause of
many diseases.
8) 1889 A. D. Beijerinck
(Dutch)
proved that the virus is not a
living microorganism.
•Founder of virology
N.A. Cobb
Contributed a lot to
nematode morphology,
taxonomy and methodology
•Founder of nematology
Paul Neergaard
•Father of seed pathology
Bengal Famine 1943
Brown spot diseases
Bangladesh perspective
• Department of plant pathology
• Seed Pathology Centre
• Plant Disease diagnostic Clinic
Today’ Plant Pathology
Some major trends were in the following areas:
Physiological plant pathology
Genetics of the host and the pathogens
Environment and its relation to plant disease
Nature of disease resistance in plants
Biochemistry and physiology of the diseased plants
Tissue culture in plant pathology
Ecological study of plant pathogens
Integrated plant disease management
Biotechnology and genetic engineering