Abstract
A study has been made on the effect of infection by Ustilago coici upon the chemical composition of Job's tear plants. The results of determinations show that in the diseased grains the content of raw protein, cellulose and water are markedly higher and the contents of starch, ash and fat are considerably lower than those in the healthy grains. The diseased grains have a little lower content in protein nitrogen, while there is no significant difference to the healthy grains in the content of ammonium, and amino acid nitrogen. The percentage of total nitrogen in the stem of infected plants is higher than that of the healthy plants, while the relation in the leaves is the reverse. The leaves of infected plants have a high proportion of sugar in comparison to healthy plants. A preliminary test for alkaloid in the diseased grains gave negative reaction.
