Immunotechniques: Concept and application in plant pathology

Abstract

Proper management of plant diseases requires accurate disease diagnosis and precise identification of the phytopathogens involved. Traditional and conventional methods of disease diagnosis and pathogen detection have several demerits. It takes a lot of time to diagnose a disease and to identify a pathogen accurately by traditional approaches. Moreover, results are not always conclusive because similar symptoms can be caused by different pathogens or physiological conditions and sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish closely related organisms on the basis of their morphological characters only. Thus the traditional methods normally applied for pathogen identification and disease diagnosis are less sensitive and less reliable. The need for rapid and accurate identification and diagnostic methods to identify the organisms that cause plant diseases are essential for the formulation of effective disease control strategies.