Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Polycyclic plant pathogens produce secondary repeating propagules that drive compound-interest epidemic growth during a single cropping season.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Asexually produced conidia/spores (e.g., urediniospores of rusts, conidia of powdery mildews and blast) are produced in astronomical numbers in short generation cycles ($7\text{--}10\,\text{days}$).
Dispersed efficiently by wind and rain, repeated cycles of secondary infection accelerate explosive geometric/logarithmic disease epidemics in crop canopies.
In contrast, sexual ascospores, thick-walled chlamydospores, and sclerotia function primarily as primary inoculum and overwintering survival structures.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Thus, asexually produced conidia drive explosive epidemics.