Plant Diseases and Crop Protection
Plant Diseases and Crop Protection

Plant Diseases and Crop Protection

Research:

The division focuses on interdisciplinary research and teaching in the field of plant-pathogen interactions and plant health. Our aim is to understand how plant pathogen populations evolve in space and time, integrating ecological, epidemiological, evolutionary, and socioeconomic dynamics across various temporal and spatial scales. We collect extensive empirical datasets (e.g., phenotypic and genomic) and combine mathematical modelling with machine learning to extract knowledge from data. In light of the global environmental crisis, this systems level understanding is urgently needed to find more efficient and sustainable ways to protect cultivated and wild plants from infectious diseases.

Teaching:

In the frame of lectures, practial courses, seminars and excursions comprehensive knowledge in the diverse subdiciplines of plant pathology and crop protection is transfered. Students of both BSc and MSc programs may choose 3 mandatory and 11 elective modules intended for providing solid knowlege in plant pathology and crop protection. Modules on concepts of integrated crop production, biology of plant pathogens, control mechanisms of pesticides and their use (including development and registration procedures) are treated. Concepts of biological control and examples are presented. Furthermore, host-parasite-interactions are in addressed in some modules, in order to deepen the understanding of phenomena of crop plant resistance and susceptibility.
Lectures, practical courses etc. are presented in German the BSc and regular MSc study programmes of Agricultural Sciences and in English language for the Crop Protection master study program which was established in winter term 2010/2011. Since 2016, we also offer a European joint master programme in "Plant Health in Sustainable Cropping Systems" which is integrated in the regular MSc Crop Protection.

Further details of these study programmes are available by the following hyperlinks:

Recently accepted or published papers

Del Ponte E M, Mikaberidze A, Bebber D P, Halliday F W, Cunniffe N J (2026). The epidemiology of wild–crop interfaces: integrating ecology, evolution and management through modelling. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 28 May 2026; 381 (1951): 20250110. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2025.0110.

Heim R H J, Melloy P, Ispizua Yamati F R, Okole N, Mikaberidze A, Mahlein A-K (2026). A spatially explicit negative‑prognosis framework for Cercospora leaf spot using remotely sensed leaf area index. European Journal of Plant Pathology 174, 1181–1204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-026-03194-6.

Pfordt A, Simm D, Koopmann B, von Tiedemann A, Kollmar M (2026). Genome sequences of Verticillium longisporum strains M058 and M219, members of the A1D1 type-II lineage. Microbiology Resource Announcements 15:e00168-26. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00168-26.

Douanla-Meli C, Pfordt A, von Tiedemann A, Schrader G, Schäfer BC (2026). Development and validation of conventional and TaqMan real-time PCR for the detection of Trichoderma afroharzianum causing corn ear rot. Scientific Reports 6;16(1):14427. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-51199-2.

Koopmann, B (2026). Obituary Prof. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Hoppe (1939–2025). Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection 133, 22 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-026-01220-7.

Surovy M Z, von Tiedemann A (2026). Role of phenolics and lignin in cultivar resistance of wheat ears to Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT). Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection, 133(698). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-026-01259-6.

Pfordt A, Prusznski-Beck S, von Tiedemann A (2025). Effect of fungicides and cultivar on cereals to Trichoderma afroharzianum ear infection in the field related to fungicide treatment and crop cultivar. Frontier Agronomy, 7, https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2025.171943.

Pfordt A (2025). Trichoderma ear rot on maize – when friends turn evil. CABI Plant Health Cases, https://doi.org/10.1079/planthealthcases.2025.0030.

Miscellaneous

  • If you are interested in open topics for Master's but also Bachelor's theses from our division, please contact our scientific staff directly.
  • Topics of the Plant Pathology and Plant Protection Seminar are announced on a separate web page. The listing of topics for the current semester can be accessed via the following parent page: Plant Pathology and Plant Protection Seminar.