> What is Plant Pathology?

The modern discipline of Plant Pathology arose from 18th and 19th century investigations into the cause of important plant diseases such as the late blight, the disease of potatoes that precipitated the Irish Potato Famine of the 1850's. Since that time plant pathologists have worked to understand and ameliorate the threat of pathogens of plants to the food supply and to ensure food security.

Plant pathology is the study of plants and their pathogens, the process of disease, and how plant health and disease are influenced by factors such as the weather, nonpathogenic microorganisms, and plant nutrition. It encompasses fundamental biology as well as applied agricultural sciences. Plant pathology involves the study of plants and pathogens at the genetic, biochemical, physiological, cellular, population, and community levels. The knowledge derived from those studies is integrated into agricultural practice. Prerequisite to effective research, teaching, and extension in plant pathology are a breadth of interdisciplinary interest and knowledge, in a department and in its individual members, reaching from ecology to microbiology, from meteorology to applied mathematics, and from molecular biology to communication skills. Plant pathology is a field that thrives in, and makes its greatest contribution to, comprehensive institutions like the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here the proximity and complementarily of basic sciences and the applied agricultural sciences is exceptionally strong.

The discipline of plant pathology, and UW-Madison's Department of Plant Pathology, have made major contributions to the knowledge of plant biology that is essential to meet the future demands and challenges of Wisconsin and world agriculture. Agriculture must remain intensive and productive, and maintain and enhance its economical, environmental, and social appeal.

Through education, research, and extension, our Department is a major contributor to the future of both the basic science of plant pathology and the application of the science toward improved agricultural production systems.

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