LOOSE SMUT
SYMPTOMS
Loose smut is recognizable as soon as the affected head emerges rom the leaf sheath, usually about the same time as, or very often in advance of, the leads of healthy plants.
Loose smut of wheat is easily distinguishable from stinking smut and flag smut of wheat being characterized by the complete destruction of spikeets, whereas stinking smut is confined to the kernels, leaving the glumes intact, and lag smut attacks the leaves and culms.
The smutted head consists of deformed spike- et filled with black, dry, powdery masses of spores, known as brand spores or jhlamydospores; at first covered by a delicate membrane, which soon bursts md exposes the powdery spores.
The glumes and kernels are completely disintegrated and soon after emergence the wind blows the powdery mass of spores having only the bare rachis which is not attacked by the fungus. Usually all spikelets n a head are destroyed but occasionally only a part of a head is affected.
Ordinarily all the heads on a plant are affected, and while the smut is confined mostly to the jars, sometimes dark streaks of spore formation may occur also on the leaves and ess often on the stem. In dry weather the spores are blown in clouds throughout he crop when the healthy heads are in bloom. During intermittent brief intervals ,when the spikelets are open for pollination, infection of the flowers takes place
