Also known as foot rot, strawbreaker
Tapesia yallundae Wallwork & Spooner [teleomorph]
Ramulispora herpotrichoides (From) Arx [anamorph]
T. acuformis (Boerema, Pieters & Hamers) Crous [teleomorph]
Ramulispora acuformis (Nirenberg) Crous [anamorph]
- Symptoms: The most obvious symptoms of this disease are the eye-shaped, elliptical lesions produced on the internodes of the lower stem (picture at left). The lesions are bordered by dark brown to greenish brown rings, have straw-colored centers, and frequently develop on the leaf sheath at soil level. These lesions may coalesce and lose their distinct "eye-spot" appearance. When disease development is severe, the stem or culm may break near the ground or through the lesion where the stem is weakened (picture at right). Symptoms do not appear on the roots.
- Development: Primary infection occurs from conidia or mycelia produced on crop debris on or near the soil surface; contact with the developing coleoptile or basal areas of young culms is required. The fungus is limited to the basal areas of the plant. Disease development is favored by cool, damp weather, and by high humidity at the soil level.
- Hosts/Distribution: Wheat, triticale, rye, oats, and other related grasses can be affected by the disease, with wheat being the most susceptible; winter wheat and fall-sown spring wheat are more frequently damaged. Eyespot occurs in cool, moist climates where fall-sown cereals predominate.
- Importance: Eyespot may kill individual tillers or even whole plants. More commonly, yield losses result from reduced kernel size and number, and from lodging.
