What Is Corn Smut? Causes and Control Methods
Corn smut is a fungal disease of the corn plant, caused by the pathogen Sphacelotheca reiliana. It is a systemic disease that can infect the plant as a seed, but symptoms do not appear until the plant reaches the flowering and fruiting stage. Smut is easily mistaken for
Corn smut is a fungal disease of the corn plant, caused by the pathogen Sphacelotheca reiliana. It is a systemic disease that can infect the plant as a seed, but symptoms do not appear until the plant reaches the flowering and fruiting stage.
Smut is easily mistaken for another fungal corn disease, common smut. However, head smut only shows its characteristic symptoms on the tassels and ears, whereas the symptoms of common smut may appear on any part of the infected corn plant.
Corn with head smut may look completely normal and healthy until the infected plant produces flowers or fruit. Symptoms appear as irregular black wrinkled growths on the ears. Infected corn will be stunted and grow in a teardrop shape - they may also produce strange finger-like extensions from the infected cob.
As mentioned above, this is a systemic disease. The infection may only be visible on the cob and the ear, but the disease is present throughout the entire plant.
How do you stop corn smut? Head smut on corn ears has caused major yield losses in commercial corn crops in Nebraska. Although once disease symptoms appear there is no effective control method available to treat corn smut, using a fungicide on the seed before planting can help control outbreaks of the disease, especially in smaller home vegetable gardens.
Because head smut grows and spreads most actively during hot, humid periods, planting corn early in the season can help control the disease. Of course, using corn hybrids that are resistant to the disease can also be an effective means of stopping corn smut.
