Types of crop stress
Biotic factors
Insects, nematodes, fungus, bacteria, viruses...
There are various groups of organisms that cause damage to plants. Undoubtedly, one of the most harmful is insects because they can come to represent real pests in the field.
We can classify insects according to the way in which they harm the plant: sap sucking insects, shoot rodents, wood-boring insects, pathogenic vectors, etc.
Production losses can be significant
The infestations of nematodes are an increasing problem due to the disappearance of conventional chemical disinfectants. These soil inhabitants attack the roots causing deformations and galls, but symptoms are extremely visible on the aerial parts of the plant: wilting, yellowing, loss of vigour, rotting.
Also of special note are infections caused by fungi, bacteria or viruses. The virulence of these infectious agents is determined, to a large extent, by the plant’s level of resistance and by the conditions in which it finds itself.
