SEEDLING BLIGHT OF SUGAR-CANE-A NEW DISEASE CAUSED BY HELMINTHOSPORIUM SACCHARI BUTLER

The fungus Helminthosporium sacchari Butler, known to be the cause of eye spot, a common air-borne disease of sugar-cane leaves, is now shown to be the cause of an undescribed seed-borne disease of sugar-cane seedlings. It is therefore suggested that the disease should be renamed eye spot and seedling blight of sugarcane.
The symptoms of seedling blight are described, and the pathogenicity of the fungus to sugar-cane seedlings is confirmed. Incidence of seedling blight is shown to be markedly affected by the growing conditions, and disease-escape is common. The two most important factors predisposing seedlings to attack appear to be (i) the relative humidity of the atmosphere, and (ii) the occurrence of a check to the continuous growth of the seedlings.
With the discovery of the existence of seedling blight, eye spot assumes a particular significance in plant-breeding plots, because it may be responsible for the loss of sugar-cane seedlings, any one of which is potentially a desirable new variety.