Sorghum and Millets Diseases

Sorghum and Millets Diseases, edited by John F. Leslie, Iowa State University Press, 2003, 504 pages, Hardback $114.99.

This collection of chapters and abstracts is based on the third global review of sorghum and pearl millet diseases held in 2000 in Guanajuato, Mexico. The book updates and expands the earlier global reviews in 1980 and 1992, addressing the present status of sorghum and pearl millet diseases, providing new research information from the 1990s, and identifying research priorities for the next ten years.

The book is divided into 11 sections with a total of 76 chapters and 12abstracts contributed by nearly 200 authors. The book sections are:

* "Transition From the Previous Mellennium" (2 chapters)

* "Millet Biology and Diseases (8 chapters)

* "Sorghum Ergot" (19 chapters)

* "Striga" (2 chapters)

* "Pathogen Variability" (8 chapters)

* "Molecular Biology, Genome Mapping, and Host Plant Resistance" (3 chapters)

* "Sorghum Breeding and Disease Physiology" (7 chapters)

* "Technology and Approaches to Disease Management" (5 chapters)

* "Collaboration and Its Implementation" (5 chapters)

* "Country and Regional Disease Reports" (17 chapters)

* and, 13 Abstracts.

These chapters have been written by professionals worldwide who work with sorghum and millet diseases. Each chapter contains a long list of references directing readers to additional sources of information.

In addition to updating the state of knowledge of sorghum and pearl millet diseases, particularly noteworthy is the extensive information presented about sorghum ergot [Claviceps africana], which is a new disease problem in the Western Hemisphere, and the use of molecular biology to identify pathogen variability and improve host-plant resistance. It was a pleasant surprise to find chapters with information on diseases of finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.], on the parasitic weed Striga [Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth], and on sorghum grain quality, that add greatly to the book.

This book in combination with the published proceeding of the earlier global reviews of sorghum and millet diseases provide an essential reference set for scientists worldwide conducting research, extension or technology transfer activities with these two crops. In addition, it is a useful reference for instructors of plant pathology courses, especially at the graduate level. The book is not a good textbook for undergraduate courses that deal with a broad spectrum of crops. The book assumes some previous knowledge about diseases of these two crops, and builds on the earlier published proceeding. It also does not provide many pictures or diagrams that would be needed by undergraduate students to learn to identify a disease, understand its life cycle, and the damage caused. The book is an outstanding reference book that is of great value worldwide, and should be on the shelf of any serious researcher or extension agent working with sorghum or the millets.

Stephen C. Mason

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Copyright North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Jun 2004
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