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Common Smut of Corn
HYG-3119-96
Sally A. Miller
Patrick E. Lipps
Randall C. Rowe

Corn smut is an extremely common disease of sweet, pop, and dent corn in Ohio and throughout the world. It is usually not economically important, although in some years yield losses in sweet corn may be as high as 20%. In Mexico, immature smut galls are consumed as an edible delicacy known as cuitlacoche, and sweet corn smut galls have become a high value crop for some growers in the NE United States who sell them to Mexican restaurants.

Symptoms
The corn plant may be infected at any time in the early stages of growth, but becomes less susceptible after formation of the ear. Above-ground parts may be infected, but it is more common to see smut galls on the ears, tassels, and nodes than on the leaves, internodes, and aerial roots (Figures 1 and 2). The smut gall is composed of a great mass of black, greasy, or powdery spores enclosed by a smooth white covering of corn tissue. The gall may be 4-5 inches in diameter. When leaves are infected, small pustules develop, usually on the midrib, causing some leaf distortion. After the spores mature, the outer covering becomes dry and brittle, breaks open, and the spores sift out. Greatest yield losses occur when the ear becomes infected or if smut galls form on the stalks immediately above the ears.

Causal Organism
Corn smut is caused by the fungus, Ustilago zeae, that survives as a resistant spore in the soil over winter, and possibly for 2 to 3 years. These spores, called teliospores, can be blown long distances with soil particles or carried into a new area on unshelled seed corn and in manure from animals that are fed infected corn stalks. The teliospores germinate in moist air and give rise to tiny spores called sporidia. The sporidia bud like yeast, forming new spores that germinate in rain water that collects in the leaf sheaths. This leads to infections that are visible in 10 days or more. Wounds from various injuries provide points for the fungus to enter the plant.