Tilletia controversa
dwarf bunt of wheat
Tilletia brevifaciens, Tilletia tritici-anifican
Africa: Algeria, Libya, Tunisia; Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Europe: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine; North America: Canada, USA.
CA, CO, ID, IN, KS, MI, MT, NY, OR, UT, WA, WY
2025-08-14
fungus
China
Main: wheat, wheatgrass, barley, rye; Other: grasses (Poaceae species)
TILLCO
Dwarf bunt, caused by Tilletia controversa, is a soilborne and seedborne disease of wheat that poses major quality and trade concerns. Its brown-black teliospores can persist in soil for up to 10 years and are easily spread between fields via contaminated soil, machinery, or infected seed. Infected kernels are replaced with foul-smelling order, even at low infection levels, resulting in significant quality loss.
3 Known Hosts
Hordeum vulgare
barley
uncertain
TILLCO-4, CABI CPC, TILLCO-21, TILLCO-22
No confirmed evidence that seed is a pathway in barley. Association with the seed is inferred due to the seed as a pathway for wheat and the potential for teliospores to adhere to the seed coats.
2025-08-14 16:53:31
Dewey WG, Hoffmann JA, 1975. Susceptibility of barley to Tilletia controversa. Phytopathology, 65:654-657
Crop Protection Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. www.cabi.org/cpc.
Seethapathy, P. (2025). Tilletia. In Compendium of Phytopathogenic Microbes in Agro-Ecology: Vol. 1 Fungi (pp. 855-872). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Mishra, K. K., Gahtyari, N. C., & Kant, L. (2022). Common bunt and Smuts in Wheat and Barley Genetics, breeding, and management: current status and future prospects. New Horizons in Wheat and Barley Research: Global Trends, Breeding and Quality Enhancement, 331-357.
Secale cereale
rye
uncertain
TILLCO-9, CABI CPC
Pathway not proven. Most of the rye infecting bunt in the US are the species of Tilletia secalis, a pathogen of cultivated rye in Europe. Though Tilletia controversa has been shown to infect rye. Association with seed inferred due to seed as a pathway for wheat
2025-08-14 16:54:47
Triticum aestivum
wheat
Yes
TILLCO-11, TILLCO-13, TILLCO-14, TILLCO-15, TILLCO-17, TILLCO-3, TILLCO-5, TILLCO-7, TILLCO-9, CABI CPC, TILLCO-19
Winter wheat is most susceptible. Detection in seed was very low. Pathogen is associated with seed and at most, external. Research was done with wheat for grain and not for seed crops.
Yes
Seed wash, Teliospore identification, PCR
These tests have not been validated or standardized
TILLCO-12, TILLCO-16, TILLCO-4
chemical
Difenoconazole, bitertanol + fuberidazole fungicides. Difenoconazole completely effective. Seed treatments protect germinating seedlings from soil-borne pathogen infections, too.
TILLCO-11, TILLCO-5, TILLCO-7
2025-08-14 16:10:48
Chastain TG, 1991. High-temperature sodium hypochlorite effects on viability of Tilletia controversa teliospores and wheat seed. Crop Science, 31:1327-1330
Duran, R., and Fischer, G.W. 1961. The Genus Tilletia. Washington State University, Pullman WA, 138 pages.
Goates, B.J., and Peterson, G.L. 1999. Relationship between soilborne and seedborne inoculum density and the incidence of dwarf bunt of wheat. Plant Disease. 83: 819-824.
Hoffmann, J.A. & Waldher, J.T. 1964. Additions to the host range of dwarf bunt. Plant Dis. Rep., 48: 575-577.
J. R. Hardison, J. P. Meiners, J. A. Hoffmann and J. T. Waldher. 1959. Susceptibility of Gramineae to Tilletia controversa. Mycologia 51; 656-664
Grey, Mathre, Hoffman, Powelson and Fernandez, 1986. Importance of seedborne Tilletia controversa for infection of winter wheat and its relationship to international commerce. Plant Disease 70:122-125
Sitton JW, Line RF, Waldher JT, Goates BJ, 1993. Difenoconazole seed treatment for control of dwarf bunt of winter wheat. Plant Disease, 77:1148-1151
Johnsson L, 1991. Experiments with seed-borne and soil-borne dwarf bunt (Tilletia contraversa Kuhn) in winter wheat in Sweden. Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz, 98:162-167
Carris, L. M., and L. A. Castlebury. 2008. Is rye bunt,Tilletia secalis , present in North America? North American Fungi 3:147-159
Crop Protection Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. www.cabi.org/cpc.
Muhae-Ud-Din, G., Chen, D., Liu, T., Chen, W., & Gao, L. (2020). Characterization of the wheat cultivars against Tilletia controversa Kühn, causal agent of wheat dwarf bunt. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 9029.
Nian SJ, Yuan Q, Yin YP, Cai J, Wang ZK, 2009. Detection of Tilletia controversa Kühn by real time quantitative PCR. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 42:4403-4410.
Kietriber M, 1984. Working Sheet No. 53 (Wheat, Dwarf Bunt). ISTA Handbook of Seed Health Testing. Zurich, Switzerland: International Seed Testing Association.
Dewey WG, Hoffmann JA, 1975. Susceptibility of barley to Tilletia controversa. Phytopathology, 65:654-657
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