Pictures
of chickens, flowers, wheat, a boy looking through a magnifying glass, irrigation pipe, soybean pods, and fruits and vegetables.
Cooperative Extension Service
Search
|
Publications
| Jobs
|
Personnel Directory
| Links
County Offices
| Departments
Loose
smut, caused by the fungus, Ustilago tritici, is strictly a seedborne disease.
Symptoms are very obvious at heading because the entire head is replaced by a
mass of dark brown, powdery spores. The spores soon blow away leaving a bare
stem. Spores enter florets of healthy heads at flowering time and germinate to
infect the developing seed. The fungus remains dormant in the seed until the
seed germinates. Infected seed appear similar to healthy ones. After the seed
germinates, the fungus infects the growing point of the seedling and remains
associated with the growing point until it invades the developing head and the
disease cycle is completed.