Evaluation of Castor Bean Resistance to Sclerotial Wilt Disease Caused by Macrophomina phaseolina. B. Grezes Besset, Sanoli Elf Bio Recherches, Labege Innopole BP 137, F-31676 Labege Cedex, Fiance. N. Lucante, Sanoli Elf Bio Recherches, Labege Innopole BP 137, F-31676 Labege Cedex, Fiance; V. Kelechian, Laboratoire de Pathologie Vegetale, ENSAM, F-34060 Montpellier, France; R. Dargent, Laboratoire de Mycologie Cellulaire, Phytopathologie et Mycotechnologie, Universite Paul Sabatier, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex, France; and H. Muller, Elf Atochem, F-92091 Paris Cedex 92, La Defense 10, France. Plant Dis. 80:842-846. Accepted for publication 15 April 1996. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-0842.

Macrophomina phaseolina was found to be the causal agent involved in a wilting disease of castor bean (Ricinus communis) in South Africa, Costa Rica, and Brazil. Resistance to M. phaseolina was found in a small-seeded Ricinus persicus and incorporated in cultivated lines. Four different methods were evaluated for resistance screening. Both field and inoculated glasshouse trials demonstrated that resistance was expressed from seedling stage to seed set. This is the first report on castor bean resistance to M. phaseolina.