Abstract

Since the dawn of history, cultural practices have been the main or only techniques available for reducing the incidence of soil-borne diseases and pests. Methods to control plant disease vary depending on the host plant, the pathogen, the interaction between the two, as well as environmental conditions. Cultural control aims to protect crops against pathogens rather than curing them once they have been infected by creating environmental conditions unfavourable to the pathogen or at least to avoid favourable conditions, or to reduce the amount of pathogen inoculum available to infect crop plants. The cultural practices to prevent or control plant diseases include the selection of disease-free seed or propagating materials, removal of crop residue, eradication of pathogen carrying plants, crop rotation, tillage, soil amendments, sowing and harvest¬ing practices, irrigation, flooding, mulching, trap, and decoy crops and improving crop growth conditions, for example through appropriate fertilizer use. Cultural practices are often overlooked though they provide the foundation for disease control in crops. In organic farming, cultural methods can be incorporated to control plant diseases as most of the cultural practices do not rely on chemicals. This chapter provides a brief history of cultural practices adopted by man and focuses on the various cultural methods used to prevent or control crop diseases and the importance of these methods in improving crop health and productivity.