Head smut of maize

Symptoms

• Tassels turn partly or completely into a black, dusty mass.
• Cobs turn into a black, dry, cone-shaped lump. At first it is covered by shortened husks, which open even before milk ripeness.
• Infected plants lag behind in growth and tiller excessively. They often show fasciation and other deformities.

When to look

The disease is assessed at wax ripeness of the grain, in the same way as common smut.

No rate and no spray timing here: both come from the label and the register.

Agronomy

To stop the disease spreading, avoid repeat cropping.

Where it is found

Disease development must be watched especially closely in the Forest-Steppe: there, even with small inoculum reserves, the potential threat remains high.

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

1. EPPO Global Database · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
2. Станкевич С. В., Положенець В. М., Немерицька Л. В., Журавська І. А., «Моніторинг хвороб сільськогосподарських культур», навчальний посібник, 301 с. · Інститут біоенергетичних культур і цукрових буряків НААН, Державний біотехнологічний університет; Житомир: Рута, 2022 · p. 167
3. Прогноз фітосанітарного стану агроценозів України та рекомендації щодо захисту рослин у 2025 році · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН · p. 63
4. Photos: Dávid Horváth, iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 · Josep Gesti, iNaturalist, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Björn Sothmann, iNaturalist, CC BY-SA 4.0