Abstract
THE Technical and Scientific Service of the Ministry of Agriculture for Egypt has recently issued a most valuable Bulletin on “Egyptian Plant Diseases: a Summary of Research and Control” (Bull. No. 146, Govt. Press, Bulaq, Cairo. Price P.T. 5. 1935). Mr. G. Howard Jones, director of the Ministry's Mycological Section, has written the text, which is a discussion of Egypt's position in relation to plant diseases, with a list of those which have occurred up to the present. Desert on three sides, and the sea on the fourth, render that country a somewhat isolated region, whilst the flooding of the Nile and the regularity of the seasons are further peculiarities. Rigid plant quarantine is one of the most effective methods of controlling fungus diseases in such an area. Research work has been directed to the investigation of individual diseases, the selection and testing of resistant host plants, the effects of differing level of the soil water table, and the progressive simplification of disease control. The last-mentioned question is of vital importance, not only in Egypt, but wherever busy farmers have to control disease in their crops. Seed disinfection with dusts is preferable to hot water treatment or to the use of liquid fungicides. The preparation of Bordeaux mixture is a very complicated process, so much simpler spray fluids are being developed. Eight reproductions of illustrated posters, with descriptions in the native language, are included in the Bulletin. One feels that Mr. Howard Jones and his colleagues really understand the situation in Egypt, and are doing their best to control the more serious diseases. The greater part of the publication is devoted to the list of diseases of crop plants, arranged according to their hosts, whose names appear in alphabetical order.
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Plant Diseases in Egypt. Nature 136, 509 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136509b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136509b0