Plant Protection, 03 (01) 2019. 09-14 DOI: 10.33804/pp.003.01.0109 9 Available Online at EScience Press Plant Protection ISSN: 2617-1287 (Online), 2617-1279 (Print) http://esciencepress.net/journals/PP EVALUATION OF RESISTANCE AND MORPHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF DIFFERENT SUNFLOWER CULTIVARS AGAINST CHARCOAL ROT Muhammad Ahmad Zeshan 1 , Safdar Ali 2 , Nadeem Ahmed 3 , Maryam Yousaf 1 , Ata-ur-Rehman Khan 1 , Muhammad Usman Ghani 4 , Yasir Iftikhar 1 1 Department of Plant Pathology, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan. 2 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. 3 Department of Plant Pathology, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan. 4 Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history Received: 14 th January, 2019 Revised: 9 th March, 2019 Accepted: 10 th March, 2019 Charcoal rot is one of the major threats to sunflower which causes complete crop loss in epidemic conditions. The genetic resistance of sunflower germplasm could be more economical and durable approach for the management of charcoal rot. In the current experiment, six genotypes obtained from Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad were evaluated for their resistance and morphological parameters against Macrophomina phaseolina. Under field conditions, none of the cultivars gave immune or resistant response against the disease. FH-337 was found to be susceptible with 54.87% infection while FH-331, FH-106 and Hycanth-33 appeared moderately susceptible with 25-49% infections. The least affected varieties were FH-259 and DK-40 with moderately resistant status in the range of 10-24%. Yield parameters of resistant varieties were better than susceptible ones when compared under inoculated conditions. Moderately resistant genotypes might have the better genetic makeup and could be selected in breeding programs to find out resistant sunflower germplasm to fulfill the needs of growing population. Moreover, these cultivars could be used for better yield of sunflower. Keywords Macrophomina phaseolina Resistance Management Growth Sunflower Corresponding Author: Muhammad Ahmad Zeshan Email: ahmd_1566@yahoo.com © 2018 EScience Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Among oilseed crops, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has important position due to short growing time, increased yields, wider growing season, low irrigation requirements, suitability under wide range of soil conditions and higher edible oil contents (Weiss, 2000). The yield of sunflower in Pakistan is lower than that in other sunflower producing countries (Anis et al., 2001). The decreased yield is associated with several biotic and abiotic stresses which include lack of good quality seed and postharvest treatment facilities (Atkinson and Urwin, 2012). In Pakistan, charcoal rot results in huge losses in sunflower (Khan, 2007) which is caused by Macrophomina phaseolina. M. phaseolina has necrotrophic mode of nutrition and grows best at higher temperature. The fungus could be isolated both from seed and soil. It reproduces by producing microsclerotia (Khan, 2007). Its transmission from seed to seedling was studied by Kaur (2012). Under epidemic conditions, losses can reach up to 90% or more (Amusa et al., 2007).