Plant Pathology

A new study from University of Florida and Kansas State University researchers found that bison carry plant-associated fungi in their saliva, with the potential to spread fungi across the prairie.

A UF professor deploys unusual methods in the field to investigate bacteria that infect tomato and pepper crops.

UF/EPI mathematical disease modeler Burton Singer has coauthored a book chapter reviewing the epidemiology of citrus greening.

UF plant pathologists affiliated with both IFAS and the EPI earned the distinction of having a “top-viewed” poster at the virtual annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society.

When it comes to managing risks to food crops from pathogens, landscape connections may be just as key to the spread of diseases as are networked trade routes and a changing climate.

A known pathogenic fungus, so far only reported to cause disease in two crops, has ensnared a third victim: eggplants. UF plant pathologists affiliated with both UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the EPI, were the first to describe Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis’s jump to a new host.

A new study adds four additional species to the growing list of palm trees susceptible to lethal bronzing disease, for a revised total of 16. Researchers with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute and the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences sampled hundreds of palms in Florida to identify the new hosts, all of which are common ornamentals found throughout central and southern portions of the state. They also found the disease has spread to eight new counties.

proposed global surveillance system would act as a bulwark against diseases that threaten food crops. UF plant pathologist Karen Garrett, who is affiliated with both IFAS and the EPI, coauthored a policy paper in Science outlining a visionary system that would link existing local and national programs to identify, predict, monitor and mitigate outbreaks of emerging crop diseases.

Plant pathology researchers with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute and IFAS seek to uncover what drives the spread of laurel wilt disease, an emerging forest pathogen responsible for killing more than 300 million redbays. A new study led by IFAS-EPI postdoctoral researcher Robin Choudhury found that the biggest indicator of a Laurel family trees’ susceptibility was having a large diameter trunk and dense clustering.

The banana crop is an important commodity in Tanzania and much of East Africa, with many in the region eating up to 400 kilograms of bananas per person per year. Plant diseases are a major threat to the sustainability of the crop, and over the past decade, a bacterial infection once found only in Ethiopia has risen in prominence in all countries around Lake Victoria, including Tanzania.