RED MOULD OF BARLEY 331 



Seed obtained from diseased plants, or from a neigh- 

 bourhood where the disease prevails, should not be used. 



Massee, Gard. Chron., June 8th, 1895 ; also repeated in 

 Journ. Rqy. Hort. Soc, vol. xix. pt. i, figs. (1895). 



CoWtneXit, Journ. Hoy. Hort. Soc, vol. xix. pt. i (1895). 



RED MOULD OF BARLEY 



(Fusarium keterosporum, Nees. 

 ^Fusisporium hordei, W. G. Sm. 

 ^= Fusisporium lolii, W. G. Sm.) 



Not uncommon on barley and rye, also occurring on 

 maize and on several other grasses, as rye grass (Loliuni) 

 Holais, Paspalum, Panicum, and Molinia. Met with in 

 Europe, South Africa, and United States. The grain is the 

 part attacked, and this is distorted and swollen by the dense 

 tufts of sporophores which burst through the pericarp, 

 and form an orange, crimson, or deep red subgelatinous 

 mass on the surface of the fruit. The sporophores are 

 branched, each branchlet bearing at its tip a slender, colour- 

 less, sickle-shaped spore, which usually becomes five- 

 septate at maturity. Barley attacked by the fungus 

 becomes valueless for malting purposes. A pure culture 

 of the mould placed in sterilised beer-wort of specific 

 gravity 1.057 gave rise to a peculiar ferment, producing 

 alcohol and carbonic acid gas. 



Preventive Means. — Use healthy seed not obtained 

 from a district where the disease is known to occur, and 

 be especially careful to prevent contamination from the 

 fungus living on wild grasses growing in ditches or hedge- 

 rows. 



