Jor oloet 
MORPHOLOGY AND PARASITISM OF 
ACROTHECIUM PENNISETI N. SP. 
(A NEW DISEASE OF PENNISETU M TYPHOIDEU M.) 
BY 
MANORANJAN MITRA, M.Sc., Finlinice 
First Assistant to the Imperial Mycologist. “' » Yimek 
BOTAN 4 
[Received for publication on 2nd June, 1920.] : 
GA kistN 
1. INTRODUCTION. 
Pennisetum typhoideum Rich. (vern. Bajra) is a tall, erect grass of African 
origin. The total area under it in India is about 13,320,250 acres, yielding 
2,197,425 tons of grain. In the order of importance it takes the fourth position 
among the cereals, following rice, wheat and Sorghum.’ It is very commonly 
cultivated in North-West, Central and Southern India, as a cereal food and 
also for fodder. In the Bombay Presidency the area occupied by it is consi- 
derably over 4 million acres, and in many parts it forms the staple food of the 
people. It is generally sown in June, and the crop ripens in September. In Sind 
and Rajputana, it is the most important kharif crop. In Madras and the Punjab, 
it is grown to a very great extent and is used both as a staple food and fodder. 
_ The number of fungus diseases hitherto reported as attacking this crop in 
India is not large : Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroet., Puccinia Penniseti 
Zimm., and Tolyposporium Penicillarie Bref. being the chief. 
A parasitic species of Acrothecium is very common on Bajra at Pusa, which 
occurs every year and seems to cause considerable damage. It has never been 
recorded before, though its presence is noticed on diseased ears occasionally 
sent to Pusa from outside. Thus the fungus was found on ears sent to the 
Imperial Mycologist by the Superintendent, Government Farm, Alibag 
(Bombay), in 1919.* 
The genus Acrothecium is a Deuteromycete belonging to the group Dema- 
tiacew, Phragmospores. The chief characteristic of this genus is that the 
1 Agri. Statistics of India, 1918-19, Vol. I. 
2 Butler, E. J. “Fungi and Disease in Plants, ” 1918, pp. 218—226. 
* Since this paper was submitted for publication, the writer has found it to be very 
common at Cawnpore, Hansi, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Lahore and Lyallpur. 
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