This dikaryon then produces hyphae that penetrate the bud scales of the sugarcane plant and infect the meristematic tissue.

The fungus grows within the meristematic tissue and induces formation of flowering structures which it colonises to produce its teliopores.

[7] The flowering structures, usually typical grass arrows, are transformed into a whip like sorus that grows out between the leaf sheaths.

At first it is covered by a thin silvery peridium (this is the host tissue) which easily peels back when desiccated to expose the sooty black-brown teliospores.

[8] Sugarcane smut is a very widespread disease and is prevalent in Central and South America, Africa, and South-Western Asia.

[9] The pathogen does well in hot dry weather[10] for most of the disease cycle but requires wet conditions for teliospores to germinate.

[11] During Ustilago scitaminea infection, the fungus grows within the meristematic tissue and induces formation of flowering structures, which it colonises to produce its teliopores.

The flowering structures, usually typical grass panicles, are transformed into a whip-like sorus that grows rapidly and protrudes out between the leaf sheaths.

A series of physiological and biochemical changes, together with the molecular response, occur during the period between the appearance of the stress on plant from the invasion of the pathogen and the subsequent plant-pathogen interaction.

[18] Despite what has been learned, more studies on the molecular interaction in this pathosystem are needed to discover the mechanisms of smut resistance.

[19][20][21] The management of sugarcane smut is done through the use of resistant cultivars, fungicide and using disease free planting stock.

[24] Now infected plants have been found on both sides of the country, making sugarcane smut an issue in all production centers.

[25] The reduction in yield is mainly dependent on the races of the pathogen present, the variety of sugarcane, and the environmental conditions.