ABSTRACT
According to dictionaries, sanitation means bringing about healthful conditions. Sanitation practices for the management of plant diseases include the removal or destruction of plants or plant parts that may be sources of inoculum for further disease spread. Sanitation includes preventing pathogen transmission by sanitary handling practices and disinfesting agricultural implements that might harbor pathogens. Sanitation practices are often an important component of biological control. Composting can be considered a sanitation practice as it usually kills pathogens in the crop residues and other organic materials composted. Roguing is a sanitation practice that consists of the removal, from a crop, of individual plants that are inferior or diseased. Traditional farmers use a variety of practices that could be classified as sanitation, but usually with objectives in mind other than managing plant diseases. Some effective labor-intensive sanitation practices may be feasible for traditional farmers, whereas labor costs in modern agriculture might make such practices prohibitively expensive.
