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Herbicides and Plant Disease
The chemotherapeutic effects of fungicides on plant diseases are well known and they will not be considered here. On the other hand, from the point of view of interaction between soil microorganisms and plants, any consideration on herbicidal effects will be relevant since herbicides are directly applied to soil in all cases. When herbicides are applied to soil, they are bound to influence the growth and activity of various organisms in the surrounding ecosystem besides mitigating the growth of weeds. Such changes in the ecosystem may often increase the incidence of a plant disease in more than one way-by stimulating the pathogen, by increasing the virulence of the pathogen, through increased susceptibility of the host and by the suppression of microorganisms antagonistic to the pathogen.