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Organisms that parasitize fungi are known as mycoparasitic organisms. About 300 species of fungi and fungus-like organisms, belonging to 13 classes and 113 genera, are used as biocontrol agents against plant fungal diseases. [220] Fungi can also act as mycoparasites or antagonists of other fungi, such as Hypomyces chrysospermus, which grows on ...
Fungi cause the majority of plant diseases, which in turn cause serious economic losses. Sometimes, as in the Great Irish Famine of 1845–1849, fungal diseases of plants, in this case potato blight caused by Phytophthora, result in large-scale human suffering. Fungi are similarly the main cause of economic losses of timber in buildings.
Economically important hosts include maize, barley, wheat, oats, sugarcane, and forage grasses. They eventually hijack the plants' reproductive systems, forming galls which darken and burst, releasing fungal teliospores which infect other plants nearby.
Losses of crops due to fungal diseases or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies. Despite their importance on human affairs, little is known of the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at around 1.5 million species, with about 5% of these having been formally classified.
By decomposing these molecules, fungi play a critical role in the global carbon cycle. Fungi and other organisms traditionally recognized as fungi, such as oomycetes and myxomycetes (slime molds), often are economically and socially important, as some cause diseases of animals (including humans) and of plants. [10]
Aspergillus is defined as a group of conidial fungi—that is, fungi in an asexual state. Some of them, however, are known to have a teleomorph (sexual state) in the Ascomycota . With DNA evidence, all members of the genus Aspergillus are members of the phylum Ascomycota .
White rust can be a devastating disease on many important agricultural crops throughout the world. Seventeen races of white rust have been identified worldwide, each with a high level of host specificity. White rust is an economically important foliar disease, causing substantial yield losses and eventual death of various crops.
Rust fungi are major concerns and limiting factors for successful cultivation of agricultural and forest crops. [citation needed] White pine blister rust, wheat stem rust, soybean rust, and coffee rust are examples of notoriously damaging threats to economically important crops. [3]