Plants are the most important part of the cycle of nature. All other life forms are directly or indirectly dependent upon plants. To control or mitigate plant diseases researchers are applying chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Such inputs to agriculture have contributed significantly to the spectacular improvements in crop productivity but at the same time playing a role as a pollutant for environment and human beings. Consequently, some pest management researchers have focused their efforts on developing alternative inputs to synthetic chemicals for controlling pests and diseases....

Potato is high yielding important crop worldwide, Alternaria solani is the causal agent early blight (EB) disease of potato that leads to major damages to potato crop. It is a major foliar disease of potato and causes 20-50% yield loses. Effective management of this disease requires implementation of an integrated disease management approach. The plant world comprises a rich source of biologically active natural products to control plant diseases. Plant extracts play an important role in the inhibition of seed borne diseases and may used as an alternative to currently used fungicides. Neem...

Chickpea (Cicer aretinum L.) is the third important pulse crop in the world. It is a rich source of vegetable protein for human nutrition. Ascochyta blight caused by fungus Ascochyta rabiei is the major disease limiting chickpea productivity worldwide. It causes high yield loss in chickpea annually and may cause total crop failure under epidemic conditions. Management strategies are aimed at preventing the occurrence of disease and limiting its spread. Use of fungicides to control this disease is effective, but pesticides pollute the environment and cause health hazards. Botanical derivatives...

Botrytis gray mould (BGM) caused by Botrytis cinerea is a destructive agent of many agronomically important crops worldwide. Onion, tomato, chickpea are some important crops of Pakistan that are infected with BGM. Since, Onion and tomato are the main ingredients of Pakistani cuisine so; its yield losses even at slightly large scale cannot be compensated. To control BGM, there are some cultural practices like crop rotation, tillage practices, use of disease free seeds and synthetic fungicides are being used. The wide uses of chemicals make pathogens resistant for the fungicides that make...