Symptoms

• The symptoms are seen in the ear head.
• The entire ear head is either completely or partially replaced by a large whitish gall or sorus.
• Smutted earheads bear several dark filaments and large mass of olive green to black spores.
• The spores are blown away, exposing the dark filaments.

Management

• Grow resistant varieties like Irungu.
• Seed treatment with Carboxin 75 WP (2 gram/kg of seed) or Captan 75 WP (4 gram/kg of seed) or Thiram 75 WP (3-4 gram/kg of seed).
• Collect the smutted ear heads in cloth bags and dip in boiling water to destroy the fungus.