The role of microbial immigration in disease management by enhancement of plant diversity
2001
Lindow, S.
The process of immigration of microbes to plants will be discussed in the context of establishing inoculum of plant pathogenic bacteria on plants. Bacteria of all types move freely from one plant to another and inoculum of a plant pathogen frequently originates in distal plants. Subsequent multiplication of bacterial cells on leaf surfaces can establish a large epiphytic population size that is required before infection can occur. The use of plant variety mixtures ensures that the initial immigrants to a plant are a diversity of microorganisms, only a small proportion of which might be pathogenic to that plant. This reduces the likelihood that the initial immigrants to a leaf are compatible pathogens and therefore reduces the probability that such pathogens can establish a population large enough to cause disease. The local plant composition can therefore strongly influence the composition of microbial communities on a plant.
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