Tropical Fruit Diseases

Research in this program is conducted on soil borne and foliar diseases of fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops. Work occurs on a wide range of fungal pathogens and the diseases they cause with the ultimate objective of enabling effective, environmentally benign disease management for south Florida producers.

Research includes studying the ecology of the associated pathogens and epidemiology of the diseases that they cause, investigating the genetic and pathogenic diversity, and origins and phylogenies of these pathogens, identifying and developing disease-resistant host germ plasm, identifying and developing cultural and chemical disease control measures, and looking at the influence of abiotic factors on disease development and host physiology, particularly flooding and suboptimal host nutrition.

Dr. Randy C. Ploetz

Dr. Randy C. Ploetz is a Professor of Plant Pathology at the Tropical Research & Education Center of the Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida in Homestead, Florida.

Plant Pathology

T.R.E.C. Plant Pathology faculty are all off-campus faculty of the University of Florida, Department of Plant Pathology in Gainesville, FL.

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