Herd immunity in crops? Lessons from human epidemiology

Trends in Plant Science 2026 Open access

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Authors: Esther Kuper, Mudassir Iqbal, Åsa Lankinen, Erik Andréasson, Johan A. Stenberg
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2025.12.005
Cited by: 1
References: 14

Abstract

Herd immunity describes indirect disease protection in heterogeneous, partly immune populations. This concept is rarely discussed for agricultural crops, although crop heterogeneity can reduce pathogen transmission. We discuss disease suppression in diversified crop fields and illustrate how entire fields could benefit from treatment of individual plants, leading to herd immunity.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity Transgenic Plants and Applications Plant Virus Research Studies

Publication details

Journal / source
Trends in Plant Science
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
31
Issue
5
Pages
525–528
Publication date
5 January 2026
Language
EN