A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticulture. Their causes include a wide range of organisms as fungi, bacteria, mycoplasmas and viruses. The majority of canker-causing organisms are bound to a unique host species or genus, but a few will attack other plants. Weather (via frost or windstorm damage) and animal damage can also cause stress to the plant resulting in cankers. Other causes of cankers is pruning when the bark is wet or using un-sterilized tools.[1]

Butternut canker is a lethal disease of butternut trees, and has no cure.

Although fungicides or bactericides can treat some cankers, often the only available treatment is to destroy the infected plant to contain the disease.

Examples edit

 
Tree cankers (right) are caused by injuries to the bark that allow pathogens or insects in to infect the tree. Compared above is a healthy tree and segment (left) to a tree infected and containing a canker.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Canker Diseases". The Morton Arboretum. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  2. ^ Gardan, L.; Shafik, H.; Belouin, S.; Broch, R.; Grimont, F.; Grimont, P. A. D. (1 April 1999). "DNA relatedness among the pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae and description of Pseudomonas tremae sp. nov. and Pseudomonas cannabina sp. nov. (ex Sutic and Dowson 1959)". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 49 (2): 469–478. doi:10.1099/00207713-49-2-469. PMID 10319466.
  3. ^ Southwest Canker
  4. ^ Smith, B. J. (2007). "Developmental Stage and Temperature Affect Strawberry Flower and Fruit Susceptibility to Anthracnose". In Takeda, F.; Handley, D. T.; Poling, E. B. (eds.). Proceedings 2007 North American Strawberry Symposium. Kemptville, ON Canada: North American Strawberry Growers Association. pp. 55–57.
  5. ^ Dowling, Madeline; Peres, Natalia; Villani, Sara; Schnabel, Guido (2020). "Managing Colletotrichum on Fruit Crops: A "Complex" Challenge". Plant Disease. 104 (9): 2301–2316. doi:10.1094/PDIS-11-19-2378-FE. ISSN 0191-2917. PMID 32689886. S2CID 219479598.
  6. ^ Damm, U.; Cannon, P. F.; Woudenberg, J. H. C.; Crous, P. W. (2012). "The Colletotrichum acutatum species complex". Studies in Mycology. complex species or species complexes?. 73: 37–113. doi:10.3114/sim0010. ISSN 0166-0616. PMC 3458416. PMID 23136458.

External links edit

  • [1] Canker Diseases of Trees