Ustilago smut

Host organism- Triticum aestivum
Pathogen- Ustilago tritici
Classification :-
Phylum – Basidiomycete
Class – Ustilaginomycetes
Order – Ustilaginales
Family – Ustilaginaceae
Genus – Ustilago
Characters-
-Mild symptoms maybe present prior to heading ,including yellowish leaf streaks and stiff
dark green Leaves.
-Affected plants head out early producing sterile heads with clumped, sooty olive-black
spores in place of healthy glumes and kernels.
-Spores are not enclosed by the seed coat so are quickly dispersed by rain or wind after
emergence.
-After spores disperse only a bare rachis remains with a few fragments of glumes or awns.

Reference:- A Manual of Plant Pathology by S.K. PADOLEY and P.B. MISTRY