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Causes of Plant Diseases

As I mentioned, we’re going to spend a fair amount of this presentation talking about the different types of organisms that can cause plant diseases. We’re going to talk about the fungi and fungi-like organisms, which are the most important of the disease-causing organisms in plants. We will also discuss bacteria, viruses and a couple of organisms you may not have heard of before, the nematodes and the phytoplasmas. In addition to these microorganisms, we’ll also talk about abiotic factors. These are nonbiological sorts of things that can adversely affect plant health and growth.