]> straighthead web:http://plantpathology.tamu.edu/Texlab/Grains/Rice/rices.html GR:pj Malformed inflorescence (panicle in rice), by staying upright/straight at the time of maturity and may carry infertile seeds. For rice: Straighthead is a physiological disorder that causes the entire head to be blank and remain upright at maturity in rice. Straighthead generally occurs in spots scattered throughout a field and is most easily recognized near harvest when normal plants have downturned heads (from the weight of the grain in the panicle). The disease is frequently found on sandy loam soils but seldom on clay soils. Old cotton fields with arsenic residues can have a severe incidence of straighthead. Other, as yet unknown, soil factors are also involved in causing straighthead. Often it is found in fields where excessive non-decayed vegetation has been plowed under just before planting. The disease is characterized by upright heads when the rice matures due to infertile seed. Hulls may be distorted into a crescent shape or "parrot beak". One or both hulls may be missing. Affected plants continue to grow, are a darker green, and often produce shoots from a lower portion of the plant. First year crops of rice grown on "new ground" are more likely to be affected. Some varieties are more tolerant than others. Control measures include planting resistant varieties and draining fields with a history of the disorder just prior to internode elongation.