This department has a long history of internationally recognized basic and applied research on diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes in agriculture. Climatic conditions in Louisiana allow cultivation and research of semitropical crop species such as rice, sugarcane, cotton, sweet potatoes, soybeans, corn, fruit crops, grain sorghum and small grains, ornamentals, turf grass and vegetable crops. Graduate students have the opportunity to work with Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station personnel who are conducting investigations in plant pathology and crop physiology. Research problems may also be selected in plant molecular biology.<br><br>A plant pathologist is a scientist who specializes in diseases of plants that may be caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes and abiotic agents. The task of keeping plants healthy calls for knowledge of these organisms as well as related disciplines such as biochemistry, botany, ecology, epidemiology, genetics, microbiology, molecular biology and physiology. One or more of these disciplines are used to investigate the mechanisms by which pathogens cause disease and by which plants resist infection. Plant pathologists were among the first to use biotechnological and genetic engineering techniques in the plant sciences. Classical means of disease control, such as chemical, biological and cultural, also are studied.