Importance of seed-borne diseases of agricultural crops: Economic losses and impact on society

Abstract

To satisfy the basic nutritional needs of growing population of the world, there is an urgent need to increase in agricultural production. As majority of crop is propagated by seed, planting quality healthy seed is an important factor. Major seed quality characters are physical quality, genetic purity, physiological quality and seed health. The health status of seed is judged by presence or absence of insect infestation and seed-borne diseases. Seed-borne refers to the particular plant diseases that are transmitted by seed. Seed which is free from disease inoculum is a primary means of reducing the introduction of pathogens into fields, and it also reduces inoculum production and the efficacy of secondary spread to the inoculum threshold and disease severity after establishment. The quality of seeds alone is known to account for an increase in productivity of at least 10-15%. To achieve this high quality, all the factors in production that will affect seed viability, disease-free and genetic purity should be taken into account. The success of modern agriculture depends on pathogen-free seed with high yielding character and in turn disease management. There were many epidemics which were seen during the early 1990s, but with advancement of new management practices and use of new technologies in seed treatment, it helped in bringing down the epidemics due to plant diseases.