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EFFECT OF CLIMATIC CONDITIONS ON LIFE CYCLE OF CHARCOAL ROT INFECTED SUNFLOWER PLANT

SALIK NAWAZ KHAN¹, NAJMA AYUB², IFTIKHAR AHMAD³, SHEHZAD AND ASAD³

Abstract: Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) belongs to the family Asteraceae.  Helianthus. annuus ssp. lenticularis (wild), H. annuus ssp annuus (weed) and H. annuus ssp macrocarpus cultivated. H. annuus ssp macrocarpus, the giant sunflower, is cultivated for edible seed. Climatic conditions like temperature, atmospheric humidity and available moisture play a significant role in activation and multiplication of Macrophomina phaseolina. High moisture and low temperature favour the rapid spread of the fungus at seedling stage. Sunflower seed was surface sterilized with 5% chlorox. In greenhouse studies, NPK fertilizers were not applied. There was no significant difference in germination period of plants grown under field and greenhouse conditions. The plants infected with Macrophomina phaseolina grown under greenhouse conditions completed all stages of its life cycle appeared after seedling stage earlier than plants cultivated under field conditions during spring and autumn seasons.  M. phaseolina-infected plants approached seedling stage five days earlier than the plants grown under field conditions. Vegetative, reproductive, maturity stage 10 days after maturity appeared 15, 5, and 7 days earlier than charcoal rot infected spring crop grown under field conditions. Inadequate food translocation affects physiological processes like length of growth stages of the plant. Plants raised in greenhouse were affected by charcoal rot at earlier stages of plant growth.

¹Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, University of the Punjab,  Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan, Email salik_nawaz@yahoo.com

²Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

³Crop Diseases Research Program, IPEP, NARC, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan