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Nigrospora Ear and Cob Rot (Nigrospora oryzae) – identify and control
Nigrospora ear and cob rot, Nigrospora oryzae is known in all areas where corn is grown. However, it does not cause significant quantitative damage, being more of a disease that depreciates corn cobs in warehouses.
Symptoms. The fungus attacks in the field, the cobs that are not well wrapped in husks during their maturation phase. Or, those uncovered by crows. The attacked cobs show a dry rot of the rachis. This makes them crumbly. The grains on the cobs move in the alveoli, they cannot be separated mechanically, and at their base and in the rachis there is a grayish coloration produced by black spores, which are in very large numbers.
Nigrospora ear and cob rot fungus is carried from the storage to the field and from the field to the storage, by the grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella). It deposits spores that have caught on the fringes of the wings, on the cobs uncovered by birds, or on those that are not well wrapped. The spores can survive in nature for up to two years and germinate only in conditions of high humidity and temperature between 10-30°C. Very late hybrids are more severely affected.
Prevention and control. It is recommended to treat the seeds that could be covered with fungal spores with specific fungicides. It is also indicated the destruction of moths that spread spores, the disinfection of deposits, and the destruction of plant debris on which spores can be found.
