This open access book in the field of plant pest detection shows a constant demand in development and improvement of fast and reliable detection tools, especially for high-priority pests. This open access book describes and summarizes the whole process of the organization of test performance study (TPS) for these tools. The outcome of TPS, obtained through the evaluation of the performance of one or more diagnostic tests by several laboratories on defined samples, is the finding of the best performing test/s for particular pest and for specific uses. Nowadays the intensification of worldwide trade and associated controls increases the need for quality assurance accreditation and harmonization of laboratories practices. Therefore, such studies are very important, but, non-existent. Considering those facts, our goal was to develop guidelines, by using the data and experiences of involved partners, for further TPS in the field of plant health. Developed guidelines could be easily transferable to other microbiology fields.

This open access book in the field of plant pest detection shows a constant demand in development and improvement of fast and reliable detection tools, especially for high-priority pests. This open access book describes and summarizes the whole process of the organization of test performance study (TPS) for these tools. The outcome of TPS, obtained through the evaluation of the performance of one or more diagnostic tests by several laboratories on defined samples, is the finding of the best performing test/s for particular pest and for specific uses. Nowadays the intensification of worldwide trade and associated controls increases the need for quality assurance accreditation and harmonization of laboratories practices. Therefore, such studies are very important, but, non-existent. Considering those facts, our goal was to develop guidelines, by using the data and experiences of involved partners, for further TPS in the field of plant health. Developed guidelines could be easily transferable to other microbiology fields.

Using molecular methods for plant disease diagnosis provides diagnosticians with a number of advantages over more traditional methods. They can allow the identification of morphologically similar species, for example, or the detection of infection prior to symptom formation. Not only can molecular tools help by increasing the efficacy, accuracy and speed of diagnosis; their common technological basis provides further benefits, especially where resources are limited and traditional skills are hard to sustain. This book provides protocols for nucleic acid-based methods currently applied to plant pathogen detection and identification. It takes the practitioner through the full range of molecular diagnostic and detection methods and, as these generic techniques are appropriate for use on any target with minimal modification, also provides a useful resource for students of plant pathology and plant pathologists. Beginning with the background and future directions of the science, it then addresses DNA barcoding, microarrays, polymerase chain reactions (PCR), quality assurance and more, forming a complete reference on the subject.