Abstract
This book provides a resource for the study of viruses and the diseases they cause, with a particular emphasis on applied biology. The first four chapters of the book focus on the virus agents themselves, introducing plant viruses and their impact; discussing their morphology, classification, and capacity for evolutionary change; detailing how they infect, reproduce, spread systemically, and induce disease within their hosts plants; and describing how they disseminate between plant hosts. The subsequent four chapters focus on the diseases the viruses induce, how these can be described, measured, and predicted; diagnostic systems for plant virus detection and identification; and management of virus disease through inoculum and vector control, and through host resistance including the use of genetic engineering approaches. The book is designed for plant virology, plant pathology, and general agricultural science students.