Ornamental cut flowers are cultivated worldwide, with international trade being driven by demand for new varieties of high quality attractive blossoms. Cereal crops are used for consumption allover the world as fresh or processed food. The quantity and quality of grains and ornamentals are of economic importance for local and international trade. However, plant viral diseases cause serious losses in cereal and ornamental crops allover the world. Importation of tubers and bulbs which can be infected with viral agents has sometimes caused serious problems, due to presence of viral agents which are vegetatively transmitted resulting in the infestation of entire crops. Islands nations such as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand have developed an important quarantine procedure in place to prevent invasion of new species or strains of virus. Treatment of the virus infected plants by chemical means is usually ineffective but the disease can be managed by use of preventive strategies to prevent virus infection in the field. Therefore, identification of the causal agents, their diagnosis and development of strategies of virus control/management is essential. This volume contains two separate sections on viruses of Grain Crops and Ornamental Crops, respectively. A total of 20 chapters have been incorporated by senior scientists working on the respective crops of the volume. This book is part of the multi volume Plant Pathogens Series. The book deals with biological, serological and molecular characterization of viruses causing various diseases which affect important grain and ornamental plants in the world. Development of serological and molecular diagnostic techniques and generation of virus resistant transgenic plants for possible disease control/management practices for viruses have also been discussed.
