Wheat Diseases and Their Management

Wheat Diseases and Their Management addresses biotic and abiotic constrains to wheat production. Besides detailed illustrations and descriptions of the most important diseases of wheat in the world, it offers an updated view on the reemergence of some old diseases and the occurrence of new races of the pathogen. It deals with the sustainability of wheat production through precision agriculture and focuses on the importance of conservation tillage. The book also deals with pillars of integrated disease management which would be eco-friendly and reduce severity of diseases and yield losses, with acquired Latin-American experiences of more than 40 years.

Dr. Yeshwant Ramchandra Mehta, at present, is a Plant Pathologist hired by FAPEAGRO, working at IAPAR, Londrina, Brazil, in the research project Petrobras. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in agriculture and M.Sc degree in Plant Pathology from Vikram University, India, in 1962. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Poona, India, in 1966. In 1969, he completed his pos-doctoral research on wheat leaf rust epidemiology at the Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Later, in 1972, Dr. Mehta was invited to work in Brazil, and since then he has continued his research activities on aspects of integrated management of major diseases of some crops with special reference to wheat, soybean and cotton. He published two books on integrated management of wheat diseases, the first in Portuguese in 1978 and the second in Spanish in 1993. He has published one book on soybean diseases in Spanish, in 1994. Dr. Mehta has published several research articles related to Plant Pathology and Genetics and coedited three books. He has had several short and long term consultancy jobs offered by the World Bank, IICA and Govt. of Paraguay, on integrated management of wheat and soybean diseases in different Latin-American countries. He has worked in India, Thailand, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Paraguay and Bolivia. Because of his contribution of over 40 years, Dr. Mehta has received honors from different national and international organizations. He has obtained several patents with Petrobras.