After initial infection, the entire kernel is converted into a sorus consisting of a dark brown to black mass of teliospores covered by a modified periderm, which is thin and papery.
[1][2] Millions of spores are released at harvest and contaminate healthy kernels or land on other plant parts or the soil.
Sporulation occurs in endosperm tissue until the entire kernel is converted into a sorus consisting of a dark brown to black mass of teliospores covered by a modified periderm, which is thin and papery.
Well-defined pathogenic races have been found among the bunt population, and the classic gene-for-gene relationship is present between the fungus and host.
Historically, seed treatment with organomercury fungicides reduced common bunt to manageable levels.