Plant Disease Management in the Era of Energy Conservation

Abstract

In the 21st century, the term of "agricultural sustainability" has become a norm for modern agriculture as we are facing several long-term crises such as energy shortage, global warming and environmental pollutions. As environmental and ecological issues continue to impact on agriculture, all technologies developed for crop production must be economically feasible, ecologically sound, environmentally safe and socially acceptable. Numerous non-chemical methods for control of crop diseases such as pathogen-free seeds, disease resistance, crop rotation, plant extracts, organic amendments and biological control are considered less harmful than synthetic chemical pesticides and, therefore, offer great potential for application in conventional agriculture, organic farming and/or soilless culture. No single method can provide satisfactory control of crop diseases. Integration of all effective and eco-friendly measures in accordance with the dynamics of the agroecosystem management would be the best strategy for efficient control of diseases in crops. In this era of energy conservation and environmental protection, research on energy saving and environmentally sound methods for sustainable management of crop diseases is a priority and a challenge. 現今廿一世紀，人類面臨著能源短缺、地球暖化和環境破壞等問題。這些問題使我們體驗到過去半個世紀以來，農業生產由於過度使用合成化學農藥和化學肥料而造成環境破壞與生態失衡等不良後果，因此乃提倡『農業永續經營』的理念。在此理念下，所有作物病害的防治策略都必需符合經濟效益、注重生態平衡與環境安全、以及注重社會大眾的需求，以達到每一植物保護策略都能節約人力、物力和保護環境的目的。因此現今作物病害防治策略是研發有效且對環境安全性高的病害防治方法，以取代化學農藥做為作物傳統栽培、有機栽培和介質栽培等的病害管理手段，期能達到農業永續經營的目的。這些非化學防治方法包括使用健康種子、種球或種苗，田間衛生，抗病育種，輪作栽培，天然植物萃取液，以及生物防治等。這些方法的應用雖然因作物和病害種類而異，通常是以數種有效方法在作物栽培過程中加以綜合應用效果最佳。如果再配合適當地調控農業生態環境，更會發揮這些防治方法的效果而達到病害有效管理和農業永續經營之目的。於現今的能源危機和環保壓力下，研究更安全有效的病害防治方法尤其是當務之急。