45 Journal of Oilseed Brassica 6 (Special) : Jan, 2015 Research Progress Analysis of Sclerotinia rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) of oilseed Brassicas through Bibliography Pankaj Sharma * , P R Verma 1 , P D Meena, Vinod Kumar and Dhiraj Singh ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research, Bharatpur 321 303, India; 1 Former Senior Oilseed Pathologist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, Saskatoon, SK., S7N OX2 Canada; * Corresponding author: pksvirus@gmail.com Sclerotinia rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is a major disease of oilseed Brassica in the world. Sclerotinia is a ubiquitous, omnivorous, soil-borne phytopathogenic ascomycetes fungus capable of infecting more than 500 plant species of diverse phylogenetic backgrounds including 278 genera in 75 families of dicotyledonous and a significant number of monocotyledonous plants (Purdy, 1979; Willetts and Wong 1980; Steadman, 1983; Boland and Hall, 1994; Saharan and Mehta, 2008, Sharma, 2014). Yield losses vary with the percentage of plants infected, and the growth stage of the crop at the time of infection. Plants infected at the early flowering stage produce little or no seeds, where as those infected at the late flowering stage although will set seeds but suffer little yield reduction.The disease decreases the value of crop by millions of dollars annually through losses in grain yield and quality of seeds (Purdy, 1979). The pathogen was first described from Belgium by Madame M.A. Libert (1837) as Peziza sclerotiorum Libert. (Libert, 1837). G. E. Massee is considered the proper authority for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) Massee, because he had first used the binomial in 1895. However, since de Bary used it in his contributions (de Bary et al., 1884; de Bary, 1886), the name and the authority for the fungus has generally been accepted to be Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary. This disease is most frequently occur in cool and moist regions (Purdy 1979; Saharan and Mehta, 2008), but has also been reported in some semi-arid regions where conditions seem unfavourable for disease development. It results in damage of the plant tissue, followed by cell death and development of soft rot or white mould (Purdy, 1979). The present bibliography on Sclerotinia rot (SR) of oilseed Brassica includes 1389 scientific publications, and very carefully and categorically analyses all aspects of research progress during the past 177 years (1837-2014). Our main objective was not only to compile all scientific literature in one publication, but also categorically arrange the bibliography according to centuries and decades, and identify major research areas and leading research institutions. This comprehensive publication, we hope, will help both the present and future researchers in identifying important research publications, leading research institutions and researchers directly related to their field of research. The analysis of SR research progress based on 1389 publications is summarized below: Century-wise research progress In the 19th century, 1 per cent publications were recorded on SR (Fig. 2). Twentieth century can be considered a boom period for SR research since 52% papers were published during this century (Fig. 2). Within the first decade of the 21st century, 47 per cent publications were recorded on SR (Fig. 2). Probable reasons for rapid progress of SR research during 20 th and 21 st centuries seem to be due to awareness of the disease, economic importance causing heavy yield losses, opening of more research institutes, employment of more research personel, improved facilities, knowledge of recently developed biological sciences, availability of more funds, academic interest, interaction of scientists, and development of new fields of biological sciences. Decade-wise research progress The number of research papers published on SR Journal of Oilseed Brassica, 6 (Special): 45-125, January 2015