enphytotic disease

An enphytotic disease is a plant disease that occurs regularly in a specific area among plants but typically remains at a moderate severity. These diseases are also referred to as endemic. In contrast, an epiphytotic is a plant disease that affects a high percentage of the host plant population, sometimes over a wide area, and can be mild or destructive.12

Enphytotic diseases generally cause little concern because they are consistently present at predictable levels each year. However, conditions such as favorable weather, the introduction of a new pathogen, or the development of a more aggressive pathogen strain can cause an enphytotic disease to escalate into an epiphytotic. Environmental factors like temperature and relative humidity play a critical role in disease development and can influence whether a disease becomes epiphytotic.23