217 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 V.S. Meena et al. (eds.), Agriculturally Important Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5343-6_8 N. Gupta ICAR-Directorate of Floricultural Research, Pune 411005, Maharashtra, India S. Debnath (*) ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Regional Station- Mukteshwar, 263138 Nainital, Uttarakhand, India e-mail: sovan.dta@gmail.com S. Sharma • P. Sharma Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Sirmour 173101, Himachal Pradesh, India J. Purohit C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar 385506, Gujarat, India 8 Role of Nutrients in Controlling the Plant Diseases in Sustainable Agriculture Nitika Gupta, Sovan Debnath, Sushma Sharma, Prachi Sharma, and Jyotika Purohit Abstract The importance of sustainable agriculture can be understood as an ecosystem approach toward the integrated agricultural management practices. It is capable of enhancing soil and environmental quality with conserving natural resources. Therefore, in recent years, it has become a component of the modern agricultural practices. However, at the same time, yield loss of ield crops due to diseases is causing bottlenecks toward the sustainable agricultural production systems worldwide. The conventional method for disease management has caused degra- dation of environment, land resources, and water bodies, developed pesticide resistance in pathogens, and contaminated the food with toxins. These have evolved crave for the alternative disease management practices, which are eco- nomic, eco-friendly, and sustainable approach for farmers. To be precise, rate of development of diseases can be reduced by an adequate and balanced mineral nutrition in crops. The plant nutrients determine its resistance or susceptibility to disease, its histological or morphological structure or properties, and the ability of pathogens to survive on the host. The disease symptoms frequently relect the altered nutritional status of the plant, and many factors that inluence this response are not well understood. This article summarizes some of the most