General symptoms occurring on the hosts can be observed on many parts of the plant, including leaves, seeds, stems and inflorescences, along with the presence of brown spot.

Oval-shaped brown spots are the fungal growth sign, which have grey colored center developed on host leaves.

The fungus produces a toxin known as ophiobolin which inhibits the growth of roots, coleoptiles, and leaves.

[4] This pathogen has also been known to produce non-host specific toxins which suppress plant defenses, causing the characteristic brown spots on rice leaves.

It was a major cause of the Bengal famine of 1943, where the crop yield was dropped by 40% to 90% and the death of 2 million people was recorded.

[12] Maintaining control of weeds and removal of volunteer crops in the field can also prevent fungal spread,[5][13][14] as well as burning the stubble of infected plants.

Text taken from Plantwise Factsheet for Farmers: Helminthosporiosis in rice​, Dalcy Montenegro Coca, Raquel Pardo, Fabiola Mareño, Dionicio Sosa, CABI.

Text taken from PMDG: Brown spot of rice - Pakistan​, Yasar Saleem Khan and Amna Palwasha, CABI.

Text taken from PMDG: Brown leaf spot of rice - Ghana​, E. Moses, S. Akrofi and P. Beseh, CABI.

Text taken from PMDG: Rice - Brown spot - Cambodia​, GDA, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, CABI.