Disease Note.

Diseases of Cultivated Sunflower in Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China. S. M. Yang, USDA-ARS Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, Fort Detrick, Bldg. 1301, Frederick, MD 21701. S. E. Wei, C. F. Ge, K. Z. Liang, and L. Wang. Institute of Crop Breeding, Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China. Plant Dis. 72:546. Accepted for publication 17 February 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0546A.

Surveys were conducted in 1985 and 1987 to determine the diseases that occurred on cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in Liaoning Province (latitude 42-44° north) in the People's Republic of China. Diseases were identified in the field on the basis of symptoms and later confirmed in the laboratory by isolation of the pathogen and subsequent inoculations. Downy mildew (Plasmopara halstedii (Farl.) Berl. & de Toni) and Septoria leaf spot (S. helianthi Ell. & Kell.) were two major diseases that occurred early in the growing season. Other major diseases that occurred in the mid and late seasons included black spot (Alternaria helianthi (HansL) Tub. & Nish.), rust (Puccinia helianthi Schw.), and Sclerotinia head rot (s. sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary). Powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum DC.), Verticillium wilt (V. dahliae Kleb.), Rhizopus head rot (R. arrhizus Fischer), and Alternaria leaf and stem rot (A. zinniae Pape) occurred sporadically. This is the first report of diseases on cultivated sunflower in the People's Republic of China, with the exception of Alternaria black spot.