Detailed Explanation of Sugarcane Cultivation Techniques: What Is Sugarcane Smut?
What is sugarcane smut? What causes it? How can sugarcane smut be best prevented and controlled? Please explain. Zhongdiwang has compiled the harm and control methods of sugarcane smut, listed below for netizens to reference. Harm of sugarcane smut: Sugarcane smut, also known as sugarcane whip smut, smut disease,...
What is sugarcane smut? What causes it? How can sugarcane smut be best prevented and controlled? Please explain.Zhongdiwang has compiled the harm and control methods of sugarcane smut, listed below for netizens to reference.
Harm of sugarcane smut:
Sugarcane smut, also known as sugarcane whip smut, smut disease, gray package disease or male sugarcane, is a fungal disease that mainly affects the tillering stage. After infection, a black whip-like structure grows from the top of the sugarcane plant, after which the leaves and internodes become thinner, ultimately failing to form effective millable cane, thereby reducing yield and quality. After sugarcane smut infection, the top of the diseased cane has a black whip-like structure curling downward and inward, called a smut whip, ranging from a few cm to several 10 cm in length. The center of the whip is a core column composed of parenchyma tissue or vascular bundle tissue, surrounded by a layer of chlamydospores. In the early stage of whip formation, it is covered by a silvery-white film, namely the sugarcane epidermis. Before the diseased plant extracts the whip-like structure, the leaves are slender, light green in color, with thin stems and long internodes; later it ruptures and releases a large amount of black powder, finally leaving only the core column. Infected seed cane sprouts early, with thin stems, slender leaves, light green color, increased tillering, and later smut whips also grow on the tillers.
The spread of sugarcane smut is mainly through chlamydospores. Chlamydospores can survive in dry soil for several months to 1 year. Drought in winter and spring is favorable for the survival of the spores, while high temperature and high humidity are favorable for the germination and invasion of the pathogen. Therefore, in long-term drought and high-temperature irrigated areas and in areas with drought in winter and spring and abundant rain in summer and autumn, the incidence of sugarcane whip smut is high and the disease is severe. Ratoon cane fields suffer more severe disease than newly planted cane fields; the longer the ratoon years, the more severe the disease occurrence; using top-end seedlings as seed cane results in lighter disease than using whole plants as seed cane; excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer promotes late tillering and lateral bud growth, resulting in more severe disease.
Control methods for sugarcane smut:
Control of newly planted sugarcane
1. Replace with improved varieties and breed disease-resistant varieties. Such as Yuetang 57/423, Yuetang 63/237, Xintai No. 16, Xintaitang No. 25, etc.
2. Strict seed cane disinfection treatment should be carried out at planting. For seed cane disinfection, soak seeds in 52°C hot water for 18-30 minutes; adding 25% triadimefon wettable powder or 80% Pencozeb wettable powder at 500 times dilution gives better results. Alternatively, soak seeds in 1:100 43% formalin solution for 5 minutes, then cover with plastic film and fumigate for 2 hours. Or soak seeds in 70% mancozeb wettable powder at 1:500 dilution for 5-7 minutes. Soaking seeds in 3% lime water for 24 hours is also possible.
3. Keep top-end seedlings as seed cane (the part one meter below the growing point, wrapped by sugarcane leaves). Generally, for autumn-planted sugarcane, the whole seedling bud can be used as seed cane; for spring-planted sugarcane seedlings, top-end seedlings must be selected as seed cane.
4. Implement virus-free treatment and establish improved variety propagation bases.
5. Carry out crop rotation where conditions permit. Paddy-upland rotation is best, rotating with rice, corn, sweet potato, peanut and other crops.
Control of ratoon sugarcane
(1) Ratoon cane should be cut low, preferably retaining low-position buds growing from the soil; high-position buds are strictly prohibited to reduce infection by smut pathogens.
(2) After harvesting the previous sugarcane crop, promptly burn the sugarcane leaves to reduce pathogen spore parasitism and spread.
(3) When diseased plants are found, promptly remove and burn them in a centralized manner. It is best to pull out diseased plants before the smut whip emerges. Those that have already produced black whips should be carefully cut off, placed in plastic bags, taken out of the field and burned in a centralized manner. Do not keep ratoon cane in diseased fields, and burn the diseased plant stubble as well.
(4) Carry out timely intertillage management, achieving early loosening of the root zone, early drainage, early topdressing, early weeding and early hilling, so that the plants grow vigorously and enhance their own disease resistance.
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