See how smut fungus destroys corn smut
Some fungi are important pathogens of plants that cause diseases such as corn smut, which results in significant losses of corn crops each year.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: You have probably seen the fruit body of bracket fungi on trees and stumps. Some people think that if they remove the fruit body, they have removed the fungus. What they don’t know is that the fruit body only makes spores.
Deep in the timber there are thousands of hyphae releasing chemicals that digest the wood and cause decay. A wound on a tree offers an entry point to the fungal spores that drift in the air. Covering the wound helps prevent infection.
Natural stands of timber are not the only victims of fungal infection. Fungi destroy billions of dollars of crops each year. One of the most damaging is corn smut. As the individual corn flowers develop, they are destroyed by the smut fungus. In place of the flowers, the smut produces a saclike fruit body containing millions of spores.
Deep in the timber there are thousands of hyphae releasing chemicals that digest the wood and cause decay. A wound on a tree offers an entry point to the fungal spores that drift in the air. Covering the wound helps prevent infection.
Natural stands of timber are not the only victims of fungal infection. Fungi destroy billions of dollars of crops each year. One of the most damaging is corn smut. As the individual corn flowers develop, they are destroyed by the smut fungus. In place of the flowers, the smut produces a saclike fruit body containing millions of spores.
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