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Crown gall is a cancerous disease of many dicotyledonous plants that is caused by five main groups of soil and plant-inhabiting, ubiquitous, pathogenic agrobacteria: Agrobacterium tumefaciens (biovar1), Rhizobium rhizogenes (formerly A. radiobacter and A. rhizogenes)(biovar2), A. vitis (biovar3), R. rubi (formerly A. rubi) and A. larrymoorei.

Crown gall disease, caused by the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, remains a pathogen of considerable economic importance (Kennedy and Alcorn, 1980).  It is responsible for nursery and field losses amoung a wide variety of plants including stone-fruit trees (Alconero, 1980),  apple and pear trees,  grape vines (Perry and Kado, 1982),  and ornamentals (Bazzi and Rosciglione, 1982).  The disease is widely distributed in temperate countries and both pathogenic and non-pathogenic A. tumefaciens strains can be readily isolated from soil.