Rice false smut is considered an omen of a good harvest, as the factors that favor this disease will also favor a good yield. Disease symptoms start to show when the grains mature. When the grains are full, the pericarp splits a little bit, which facilitates the causative agent to enter and develop. The seed coat remains green while inside the grain, the disease develops forming large orange to brown-green fruiting structures. This could be observed in one or more grains of the mature panicle. Later the orange covering ruptures exposing a mass of greenish-black spores. The grain is then replaced by one or more sclerotia.