Plant-pathogenic fungi include a very large and heterogeneous group of organisms that occupy positions of great importance in both agriculture and natural plant communities. They show an enormous diversity in life-history strategies and the ways in which they interact with their hosts. These interactions range from species that establish perennial, systemic infections that castrate their hosts to pathogens that kill their hosts with considerable rapidity to pathogens that form discrete lesions whose individual effects are very limited. Many pathogenic fungi can survive for long periods of time on dead host tissue or saprophytically in soil; others rely entirely on living host cells for sustenance. Collectively, the pathogens can attack virtually any plant part, although individually they may be highly specialized. The book is essential reading for students, teachers and researchers of Botany, Mycology, Biotechnology, Microbiology and researchers working on sustainable technologies.