Plant pathology

Many pathogens grow opportunistically when the host breaks down its own cell walls, most often during fruit ripening.

Abiotic causes include natural processes such as drought, frost, snow and hail; flooding and poor drainage; nutrient deficiency; deposition of mineral salts such as sodium chloride and gypsum; windburn and breakage by storms; and wildfires.

These pathways are influenced and triggered by genes within the host plant and can manipulated by genetic breeding to create resistant varieties.

[13] Ancient methods of leaf examination and breaking open plant material by hand are now augmented by newer technologies.

These include molecular pathology assays such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), RT-PCR and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).