Longevity of teliospores of Ustilago scitaminea, the causal agent of sugarcane smut, was studied in soils collected from fields with or without a sugarcane cropping history. Few viable spores (1%) were detected after 4 wk in contact with saturated soil, and none were detected after 6 wk. When teliospores were mixed in nonsterile soils adjusted to three moisture levels, the number of viable spores decreased rapidly after 1-4 wk. Viable spore numbers consistently decreased most rapidly in the wettest soil, but spore longevity was similar for all three moisture levels in each soil. In three experiments, longevity of spores was limited to 7-9 wk in soils containing moisture. The number of viable spores also decreased rapidly with time in sterile soils with different moisture contents, and longevity was limited to 4-7 wk (.)
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J. W. Hoy (1993) studied this question.