CORN 97 



plants such as Kaffir corn, broom corn, millet, etc., and 

 when serious reduces their feed value. 



Other Diseases. Cerospora sorghi, E. & E., also 

 attacks some of these plants, producing a leaf-spot and 

 thus reducing their feed value. 



Grain Moulds are prevalent on crops which have 

 close heads when grown in damp climates. The author 

 found the Kaffir corn and pearl millets in Cuba suffered 

 seriously from this trouble at about the ripening time. 

 It appeared that the trouble was due primarily to 

 Fusarium sp., and Helminthosporium sp. 



There is no treatment for these grain moulds, but 

 wherever these crops prove profitable in moist climates 

 it may be possible to breed varieties with loose heads, 

 which will not retain the moisture. 



OTHER CEREALS AND FORAGE CROPS 



Sclerospora Graminicola. 1 This is the cause of a 

 common disease in the East Indies. It occurs on 

 Pennisetum typJioideum (bayro or jowar) (Fig. 45), but 

 it is not serious except on low, ill-drained land where it 

 may become epidemic. It deforms the ears wholly or 

 in part into loose green heads of small, twisted leaves* 

 The mycelium occurs in these deformed parts, and also 

 in other parts. The conidiophores are produced from 

 mycelium in the normal leaves only, and project from 

 the stomata of the leaf. The area over which they are 

 borne is readily recognised by a whitish streak down 

 the leaf. These conidia germinate readily in water, and 

 give rise to from three to twelve, or even more zoospores 

 by which the fungus spreads. The oogonia are produced 

 later in the parenchyma of both the foliage leaves and 

 the deformed parts of the plant. 



This disease also occurs on various species of Setaria 

 italica, and on Euchlaena luxurianana in Poona and 

 Japan. 



1 "Some Diseases of Cereals caused by Sclerospora graminicola," E. J. 

 Butler, vol. ii. 1 (Dot. ser.) 1907, Memoir of the Department of Agriculture of 

 India. 



