Thus, late blight signifies the official beginning of the science of plant pathology. infestans on infected potato plants was the causal agent of the disease and not the result of spontaneous generation from the decaying vegetation or the wrath of God. de Bary's ( Figure 2B ) (the 'father of plant pathology') conclusive studies convinced the scientific community that the white sporulation of P. Berkeley (Figure 2A) and subsequently named Phytophthora infestans by Anton de Bary (Figure 2B) in the 1870’s (Berkeley, 1846 de Bary, 1876). Late blight is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine of the 1840s (Figure 1). A potato field in eastern NC with late blight. Schumann, University of Massachusetts, Amherstįigure 1. HOSTS: Potato, tomato (economically important hosts) Updated 2018.ĭISEASE: Late blight of potato and tomato
