(control) plants (Fig. 1a, 1b). At first, infected leaves became thinner and yellowish.
Then they quickly turned brownish, dried and died before maturing. Several infected
tillers produced wiry (stiff) adventitious roots at the first or second nodes. At more
advanced stages of infection, the pathogen produced white mycelium and sometimes
pinkish sporodochia on the stem just above water level (Fig. 1c). Microscopic examination,
revealed the fungal mass consisted of a large number of conidia. However,
some infected plants showed normal growth until maturity, they but produced empty
and discoloured grains.