The Indian Society of Mycology and Plant Pathology, which is consistently striving to serve the fraternity of plant pathology with its all round efforts, has recently undertaken an arduous but zealous project to start the publication of series of Annual Reviews in the discipline. The basic philosophy to start the publication of annual reviews has been to make available the latest developments in the different areas of the discipline to the students, scientists and libraries.

This volume presents two-dozen articles discussing major recent developments in the field of phytopathology. Robert K. Webster (plant pathology, U. of California, Davis) opens the volume with a summary of his experiences researching rice and barley diseases. Other topics include (for example) global food security; contrasting mechanisms of defense