Terms and Concepts for Yield, Crop Loss, and Disease Thresholds

The initial report (14) of a subcommittee of the APS Plant Disease Losses Committee dealt with terms and concepts relating to the measurement of disease intensity to obtain accurate and precise quantitative information on the relationship between disease intensity (stimulus = X) and yield or yield loss (response = Y). In addition to standardizing the terms and concepts for the measurement of disease intensity, members of the full committee identified a need to clarify and standardize terms and concepts pertaining to yield, crop loss, and disease thresholds. A second subcommittee was formed to accomplish this task. This report describes concepts concerning reference points for yield and crop loss as well as a hierarchy for threshold terms, then presents a list of terms and definitions to standardize terminology for crop loss assessment.