Blight
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{{dablink|This article is about plant diseases. For other senses of this word, see [[blight (disambiguation)]].}}
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'''Blight''' refers to a specific [[symptom]] affecting [[plant]]s in response to infection by a [[pathogenic]] [[organism]]. It is simply a rapid and complete [[chlorosis]], browning, then death of plant [[Tissue (biology)|tissue]]s such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs.<ref>Agrios, George N. <u>Plant Pathology</u>. 5th ed. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2005.</ref> Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this symptom are called '''blights'''. Several notable examples are:
* [[Phytophthora infestans|Late blight of potato]], caused by the [[water mold]] ''[[Phytophthora infestans]]'' (Mont.) de Bary, the disease which led to the [[Great Irish Famine]]
* Southern corn leaf blight, caused by the [[fungus]] ''[[Cochliobolus heterostrophus]]'' (Drechs.) Drechs, [[anamorph]] ''[[Bipolaris maydis]]'' (Nisikado & Miyake) by the [[bacterium]] ''[[Erwinia amylovora]]'' (Burrill) Winslow ''et al.'', is the most severe disease of [[pear]] and also is found in [[apple]] and [[raspberry]], among others.
* Bacterial leaf blight of [[rice]], caused by the bacterium ''[[Xanthomonas oryzae]]'' (Uyeda & Ishiyama) Dowson.<ref>Oda, M., Sekizawa, Y., and Watanabe, T. 1966. "[[Phenazine]]s as Disinfectants Against Bacterial Leaf Blight of the Rice Plant." Applied [[Microbiology]] 14(3):365-367.</ref> <br />
* Early blight of potato and tomato, caused by species of the ubiquitous fungal genus ''[[Alternaria]]''
*Leaf blight of the grasses
On leaf tissue, symptoms of '''blight''' are the initial appearance of lesions which rapidly engulf surrounding tissue. However, [[leaf spot]] may, in advanced stages, expand to kill entire areas of leaf tissue and thus exhibit blight symptoms!!
== References ==
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[[Category:Plant pathogens and diseases]]
[[Category:Microbiology]]
[[Category:Mycology]]