PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
Certification Scheme Provides seed or vegetative
propagation material conforming to cultural
characteristics and guaranteed-free from specified
pests, diseases and weeds, to the grower.
Chemical group (pesticide) The chemical group to
which the active constituent(s) belongs, eg carbamate.
Chewing damage Caused by animals, eg insects or
snails, feeding externally or internally on leaves,
stems, shoots, fruit, flowers and other plant parts.
Chitin A hard substance forming the outer coat of
Insects and Allied Pests.
Chlorosis Yellowing of normal green tissue of the
host plant due to partial failure of chlorophyll to
develop. Can occur on all parts of the plant, but
commonly associated with leaf colour. Caused by
virus diseases, natural variegation, deficiencies and
toxicities, etc. Chlorosis may precede death of a plant.
Class A division of a plant or animal Order.
Cleistothecium (pl. cleistothecia) Closed fruiting
body of Ascomycota Fungi, eg powdery mildews.
CLIMEX is a computer software package that
predicts the spread of pests, diseases, weeds and
beneficial organisms.
Cockroach An insect belonging to the Order
Blattodea (Cockroaches).
Cocoon A protective sac, spun by the larvae of
many insects in which they pass the pupal stage, eg
butterflies (Order Lepidoptera).
Conditions favouring Certain conditions which
favour development of a pest, disease or weed.
Conidia Sexual fungal spores.
Conservation tillage (CT) Minimum or reduced
tillage, sustainable crop production based on soil
preservation.
Contact herbicide A compound active at the point
of application (leaves, stems, roots), does not move
into plants.
Contact insecticide A compound that causes
death or injury to insects upon contact, it does not
need to be ingested to kill the insect.
Cornicles Tube-like structures on the dorsal side of
the 5 th and 6 th abdominal segments of aphids.
Crawler The 1 st stage nymph of a scale insect,
mealybug or whitefly which can crawl a short
distance before settling and becoming non-motile.
CRC WMS Co-operative Research Centre for Weed
Management Systems
Cricket An insect belonging to the Order Orthoptera
(crickets, grasshoppers, locusts).
Critical weed density The minimum number of
weeds worth spraying in a crop which will give a
return to cover the costs of sprays and application.
CropLife Australia The industry body in Australia,
which, through its Resistance Management Strategies,
provides a guide for product rotation in crops.
Cross-resistance. A pest, disease or weed which
develops resistance to one pesticide will develop
resistance to pesticides with similar modes of action.
CT Conservation tillage (see above).
Cultural control The use of ordinary day-to-day
horticultural practices and equipment to control pest,
diseases and weeds.
Curd The solid part of milk in cheese making.
Cutworm The larva of some moths belonging to the
Family Noctuidae, Order Lepidoptera.
Damage. Generally refers to plant damage clearly
visible to the naked eye, eg chewing, leafmining,
tearing, skeletonizing.
Damping-off A fungal disease that rots seeds and
seedlings before or after emergence from the soil.
May be caused by fungi, bacteria or other agents.
Damselfly An insect belonging to the Order
Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies).
Defoliation The premature fall of leaves caused by
many agents.
Desiccant A chemical that promotes drying or loss
of moisture from leaves or other plant parts.
Diapause A state of arrested development.
Dicotyledons (dicots) Flowers that have 2 seed
leaves (cotyledons).
Dieback Progressive death of shoots and branches
beginning at the top of the plant which may be caused
by insects, bacteria, fungi, drought or other agents.
Direct drilling Sowing into uncultivated soil after
weed control, eg by herbicides or heavy grazing.
Disease Any condition of a plant that interferes
with its normal structure, functions, or value.
Disease cycle Describes each stage of the life
cycle of a disease (spore, symptom, etc) and where it
occurs (on leaves, soil, etc).
Disease-tested planting material Plant material
free from specified diseases and pests for which it has
been tested.
Disinfectant A substance freeing the surface of
plants, organs or tissues from disease organisms.
Distortion Misshapen plant parts including buds,
flowers, fruit and trunks.
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid, a component of the
nucleus of all cells.
Downy mildew A fungus belonging to the Phylum
Oomycota in which spores appear as white or gray
downy growth on leaf undersurfaces, stems, fruit, etc.
Dragonfly An insect belonging to the Order Odonata
(damselflies, dragonflies).
Earwig. An insect belonging to the Order Dermaptera
(earwigs).
Ectoparasite A parasite living on the outside of the
host.
EDTA Ethylene diamine tetra acetate.
ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) A
serological test in which one antibody carries with it
an enzyme that releases a coloured compound.
Endoparasite A parasite that lives inside the host.
Endophyte A fungus or a bacterium growing
systemically in living plants, causing few or no
symptoms, but protecting them from diseases and
pests, while improving growth and drought tolerance.
Entomopathogen A disease organism that kills
insects and mites, eg entopathogenic nematodes (ENs)
kill insects.
Environmental weed A cultivated plant which
invades natural ecosystems threatening indigenous
biodiversity.
Etiolation A yellowing of tissue and elongation of
stems, usually caused by reduced light or darkness.
Excretion Waste material which is ejected from any
living body.
Exotic weed An introduced weed.
Fasciation. A plant abnormality on any part of the
plant characterized by a change in the stem of the
plant from normal round or bundle-like shape to a
flattened, ribbon-shaped organ.
FFEZ Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone.
Filament Thread-like structure.
Fleck A fungal disease of apples, pears (Rosaceae).
Fly An insect belonging to the Order Diptera (flies).
Forbs Wildflowers.
Formulation The technical grade active constituent
(TGAC) processed by the addition of other materials
into a form which is usable by the operator.
Frass The wet or dry sawdust-like excreta of borers,
usually evident at their exit holes on trunks, fruit or
other plant parts; often used to describe any insect
remains, eg pellets of caterpillar excreta, black drops
of excreta from thrips feeding on the undersides of
leaves, nymph skins of aphids.
Freckle A fungal disease of stone fruit.
Fruiting body A complex fungal structure
containing spores, eg a mushroom. Sometimes too
small to be seen with the naked eye.
f.sp. (Forma specialis) A group of races or biotypes
of a pathogen species that can only infect plants within
a certain genus or species.
Fumigant A chemical that forms gases which are
toxic to plants, animals and micro-organisms.
Fungicide Any agent active against fungi.
476 Glossary & Acronyms