Loose Smut (Noun)
Meaning 1
Disease of grains; the entire head is a dusty mass of spores.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural processes.
Examples
- Loose smut is a fungal disease that affects grains, particularly wheat, barley, and oats, rendering them unusable for consumption or sowing.
- Farmers struggled with loose smut, trying various methods to prevent the disease from spreading to their entire crop.
- The head of the infected grain was completely covered in a dusty mass of spores, characteristic of the loose smut disease.
- Agronomists worked tirelessly to develop new resistant varieties of grains to combat the loose smut that had devastated local harvests.
- Close inspection of the wheat revealed a case of loose smut, causing the farmer to discard the entire crop to prevent the disease from spreading.
Meaning 2
A smut fungus of the genus Ustilago causing a smut disease of grains in which the entire head is transformed into a dusty mass of spores.
Classification
Nouns denoting plants.
Examples
- Loose smut of the barley crop resulted in significant losses for the farmer due to its destructive nature.
- The once healthy-looking wheat fields were now infested with loose smut, with spores coating the entire head of every affected plant.
- Research scientists studied the life cycle of loose smut to develop more effective methods for controlling its spread in cereal crops.
- Farmers discovered loose smut had a devastating impact on their oats when it produced large amounts of spores in the flowering heads.
- Due to the ability of loose smut to produce abundant amounts of spores that easily become airborne, the potential for transmission to nearby fields was quite high.